Hearts and Minds
by elfmaiden4legs
Summary: Jack is injured and the TARDIS needs to make an emergency landing. Rose is delighted to be home again, but the people of 21st century London are dying and when Jack sucomes to the sickness only the Doctor, Rose and a reluctant Jackie can help him.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE 

_Jack is injured and the TARDIS needs to make an emergency landing, but when the Doctor gets it wrong not everything is as it seems. Rose is delighted to be home again, but when Jack starts to behave strangely it is up to The Doctor, Rose and Jackie to travel back in time and find out what is happening before it's too late._

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured in this fan fiction nor do I own 'Doctor Who'. I am merely borrowing them for the purposes of this fan fiction.

"Son of a bitch!" Captain Jack Harkness cursed as he put his hands down on top of the TARDIS controls and… they were burning hot! He pulled his hands away in an instant, cradling his burnt left hand instinctively as short, sharp impulses of pain started running up his arm.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked, coming into the main control room, Rose not too far behind him.

"The TARDIS feels as though she's burning up." Jack told the Doctor, confused.

"What happened?" Rose asked, looking from the Doctor to Jack as she entered.

"I burnt my hand on the control panel." He told her "It's nothing."

"Here let me have a look." Rose told him, her hand outstretched ready to take his.

As Jack offered her his burnt hand so she could take a look she gasped "Oh my God!" The skin between Jack's thumb and wrist had all but peeled away leaving the lower layers of skin looking angry and raw, the palm was not quite so bad but even so had been left inflamed and saw.

"Doctor this looks bad." Rose said, "You'd better take a look."

She gently outstretched Jack's hand to give the Doctor a better look as he walked over. He frowned as he got a glimpse of the wound.

"You're going to need that tending to." He told Jack.

Suddenly a red light came on in the control room and a siren sounded.

"What's going on?" Rose asked.

The Doctor was at the controls immediately.

"It's been a few weeks since we were near the last radioactive rift, the TARDIS has used up all her available energy. She's having to drain energy from the controls just to stop herself from shutting down completely."

"Well what are we going to do?" Rose asked.

"We're going to have to make an emergency landing." The Doctor said whilst fiddling with the controls.

"What are you doing?" It was Jack who spoke this time.

"Checking to see where the closest rift is." He said, his face deep in concentration. Then suddenly he smiled, a broad grin that spread across his face that seemed to reach his ears.

"What is it?" Rose said.

"Earth 1952."

"What?"

"Rose we're taking you home." The Doctor laughed.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured in this fan fiction nor do I own 'Doctor Who'. I am merely borrowing them for the purposes of this fan fiction.

Jack remained standing where he was managing a weak smile as Rose and the Doctor embraced each other. He was feeling increasingly nauseous as the pain in his hand intensified and as the Doctor looked up at him he retched re-awakening the two of them to his plight.

"_Oh no you don't" _the Doctor said, though not unkindly. "The TARDIS still needs landing safely, we're not out of the woods yet, and I haven't got time to clean up after you."

"What do you want me to do?" Jack asked.

"Nothing." The Doctor responded.

"Nothing?"

"You're no use to me at the moment." The Doctor replied "You need to take care of yourself now Jack. Go and sit down over there where I can see you, I'll be back in a minute."

As the Doctor left the two of them alone a moment Jack and Rose looked over at each other. Rose smiled, Jack managed a weak response. The two of them realised that through his harsh and often abrupt exterior at this moment the Doctor was actually feeling an overwhelming sense of concern for Jack. This was only reinforce when he returned carrying a role of bandage and a large bowl half filled with water.

"Here" he handed them to Rose "just soak these bandages in the water for me… do you know first aid?" he asked her as if as an afterthought.

"Ummm no." She replied.

"No matter he said "I need you to take Jack over there and see to his hand for me whilst I try to set up a safe landing path for us."

"Hey don't I get a say in this?" Jack asked.

"No." The Doctor replied.

"Come on solider," Rose smiled "sooner we get you sorted, sooner you can get back to your games with big ears over there."

The Doctor gave Rose a sarcastic smile "Ha ha your so funny" he said sulkily.

"Yeah and don't you know it" Rose laughed.

"What would I do without the two of you?" Jack grinned.

"You would still be trying to fly the TARDIS single handed with a burnt hand." Rose told him "Come on lets take a look at you."

"I'm all yours gorgeous!"

"I meant your hand."

"That too if you like" Jack smiled.

"Don't forget to soak the bandages beforehand." The Doctor told Rose.

"I know" she replied.


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured in this fan fiction nor do I own 'Doctor Who'. I am merely borrowing them for the purposes of this fan fiction.

The Doctor observed Jack and Rose from the safety of the TARDIS controls. He had in fact already managed to land the TARDIS safely but decided to allow Jack some time in order to compose himself before disturbing the peace. As it turned out Jack was not the best of patients and Rose had been on the receiving end of most of his frustrations, which had only been made worse by the obvious discomfort he was in, over the past half an hour. For now though everything had returned to normal, Rose had eventually managed to successfully treat Jack's hand as best she could and the two were now deep in quiet conversation… Well maybe not quite so quiet the Doctor thought as Jack let out a rather loud laugh but since when had Jack ever considered the concept of quiet? The Doctor smiled.

"Well shall we go then?" He asked clapping his hands together in the usual rather eccentric manner with which he conducted himself. His companions both looked up.

"Where?" Rose asked him.

"Anywhere." The Doctor replied, "But first we need to find Jack a doctor." He stated, his tone now serious.

"Hang on a minute" Jack protested "surely there's no need for any of that… honestly I'm fine."

"Typical" the Doctor smiled, "Always running away from your problems. Well I'm sorry Jack but I'm afraid this is something you're going to have to face for your own good. That hand needs professional attention!" Then turning to Rose he grinned "Come along then, we don't want to keep the world waiting do we?"

Jack didn't move.

"Come on." Rose encouraged "To look at you anyone would think you were actually afraid."

"I'm not afraid." Jack said despondently.

"Oh my God you are aren't you?" Rose grinned, "You're actually afraid."

"Ok so maybe I am!" Jack said, angry now, "but you don't know what it's like! I've had two years of my life taken away from me by people who claimed to be doctors working for time agents, people I would have trusted with my life! Two years of my memories erased forever at a click of a finger! I can never take back what they stole away from me, and now I have to live my life knowing there will always be this empty space inside of me that I can never fill. I don't even know who I am anymore! What sort of a person I really am… what I may be capable of!"

"I know Jack." Rose said, "But we trust you."

"The question is do you trust us?" The Doctor asked.

Rose outstretched her hand to Jack, he smiled as he took it and nodded.

Rose grinned in reply. Jack was now a long term companion of her and the Doctor and deep down she knew that he trusted them more than anyone he had ever trusted in his life before. But Jack had a painful past and Rose now realised that the Doctor of all people was the first to know how hard that was to forget.

"Right off we go then." The Doctor grinned. He led the way as the three of them left the safety of the TARDIS to brave the strange and foreign society that awaited them beyond it's doors.

"Wait a minute…" The Doctor exclaimed as all three of them met with sunlight on the other side. "…this isn't 1952!"

"Rose!" An exited, bordering on relieved voice cried.

As Rose spun round she saw the familiar figure of her mother running towards her "Mum!" she screamed.

The Doctor's face expressed a confused frown as mother and daughter embraced…


	4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 

Hey all, I know I've been so long in updating this and I apologise for the sloppy ending to my last attempt at chapter 3 which I have now deleted. I hope I haven't lost your attention as I have taken so long to update because I was really glad of all the good reviews you guys gave me. I've been compiling a chapter plan for this story over the past couple of days and now know exactly where I am going with it so hopefully I will be more regular in updating in the future. I have however had to change the story summary slightly as I have changed my mind as to where I want to take this a little bit, but not too drastically. Anyway I hope you guys like what you continue to read and please please please READ and REVIEW 

The Doctor and Jack looked on as they watched Jackie Tyler hold her daughter out in front of her as if she was checking that the Rose who stood before her now was still the same Rose that had left her just over a year ago.

"How could the TARDIS be wrong?" Jack asked the Doctor as a side.

"I don't know," The Doctor answered "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"What shall we do?"

"Nothing," the Doctor folded his arm, "there's nothing to be done, apart from getting to know the relatives. I love family reunions don't you? Just be careful, she bites."

Jack smiled, "I don't do family introductions, I'm normally out of there before things get that far."

"Well there's a first time for everything." The Doctor grinned.

"You've changed." They heard Jackie telling Rose.

"So have you." Rose said "you seem more alive somehow."

"A lot can happen in a year sweetheart" her mother responded.

"Yeah tell me about it." Rose smiled, her mum could say that again.

"Uh-hm" Rose turned to see Jack standing behind her. 'Well," he thought 'if I'm going to have to meet the parents sooner or later, it may as well be sooner. Nothing like getting in on the action outright.'

"And who's this?" Jackie asked, smiling as she noticed Jack for the first time.

"Oh… mum, this is Captain Jack Harkness."

"But you can just call me Jack," Jack cut in.

"Pleased to meet you Jack." Jackie outreached her hand for Jack to take. Rose frowned, since when had her mum taken to greeting fit men with a handshake? Normally she was all over them like a cat with fleas in an instant.

"Ummm… you to." Jack responded, accepting Jackie's hand with his good one. "You must be Jackie Tyler."

"I see Rose must have told you all about me already," Jackie smiled.

"N… not really," Jack hesitated, "but the Doctor has." Jack was beginning to feel uncomfortable, it was a feeling he didn't experience often, and it was made all the more stranger because actually Jackie wasn't all that bad looking for a mum… but he would never go there, dating relatives just complicated matters. A one night stand was all it made itself out to be, one night of fun and then back to the real world the next morning. Jack had found out the hard way that keeping the fun in the family just made it twice as likely that the fun would eventually come back to haunt him.

"Ah Doctor," she said turning to him "All good I hope." She smiled flirtatiously at him.

"I speak as I find," the Doctor grinned sarcastically back.

"So, what are you all doing here?" Jackie quickly changed the topic.

"Well it's all a bit complicated," Rose began, "But at the moment we need to find Jack a doctor."

"A doctor?" Jackie asked, "Why what happened?"

"Jack burnt his hand on the TARDIS control, and…"

"Really? Let me take a look." Jackie offered her hand to Jack to take a look at the wound.

"No really it's nothing." Jack told her, "it's only minor really."

"I said let me take a look!" Jackie snapped. Suddenly her expression changed, she no longer looked pleased or relieved to see the group but a look of complete hatred spread over her face. She suddenly lunged at Jack snatching at his injured hand, and, taking his injured palm in hers squeezed it hard until she had Jack screaming out in agony.

"Mum what are you doing?" Rose screamed "Let him go. Stop it. STOP IT! LET HIM GO!"

"Rose!" she felt strong arms around her, taking her from behind and dragging her away. It was the Doctor. "Rose, run. This thing is not your mum! We need to get away now. Run Rose! Run to the TARDIS and don't look back, whatever you do don't look back!"

Rose noticed Jack break free from her mothers grip and before she knew it she was running, running so hard her feet hurt, her legs jarred as they came into sudden contact with the ground. All three were running now, straight back to the safety of the TARDIS, and Rose never did look back, she couldn't bring herself to see what lay behind her, because deep down, instinctively, she knew her mum was chasing them. Her own mum, who had given birth to her, wept for her loss after she had left with the Doctor, the mum she missed every second of every day wanted them all dead, and she had no idea why…


	5. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 

"Quickly Rose grab this" the Doctor called after her, throwing her the key to the TARDIS, she caught it, it clicked in the lock as she fitted it in place and flung the door open reaching the safety of the control room as the Doctor and Jack raced in behind her. As soon as all three were safely inside the Doctor slammed the TARDIS door shut, and all was quiet for a moment as the three fought to regain their breath and the Doctors companions stood in shock of what had just happened.

"Let me take a look at your hand Jack." The Doctor stated, regaining his composure quickly, and walking over to his companion. Jack didn't protest this time, he held his hand out for the Doctor to look at it. gently the Doctor removed the bandages layer by layer, the top layers had dried out in the open air but the bottom layers were still quite damp and cool. As the Doctor reached the last layer of bandage he was concerned to see patches of pink staining on the white material and as he pulled the bandage away saw that the already injured skin was torn and shredded and was now bleeding. He was halted in his tracks at the sight of the mangled flesh of the wound, he was by no means re-nound for the weakness of his stomach and on the contrary had been witness to much worse over the expanse of his long lifetime, but the sight of his friend, in such obvious intense physical pain made his feel sick to his very bone marrow.

"Doctor," Rose asked. The Doctor looked up to see both his companions looking at him expectantly. "Ummmm… what was that thing? I mean…"

"You're right Rose, that was not your mother."

"Then who?… what?"

"Rose if you would be so kind I have more pressing matters on my mind!" he snapped before adding as an after thought "I need more bandages."

"I'll get them." Rose said before making a hasty exit.

The Doctor released Jack's hand from his grip and began pacing the control room. In that moment Jack thought he looked as though he had the weight of the history of existence weighing him down and wondered what had caused his sudden state of agitation. The Doctors pacing was making him feel dizzy, or of course it could just be that at that moment his hand felt as though it was on fire.

"Doctor?" he asked finally "what does…that mean?"

The Doctor stopped pacing and turned to face Jack. "It means…it means that the whole of time is changing!" he said.

At that moment Rose walked in with fresh bandages. The Doctor turned to her "I'm sorry Rose" he said. She smiled in silent understanding and acceptance. "I suspected that that wasn't your mother from the moment she made her appearance… she was too polite." He joked.

"Then what?"

"A clone," he told them, "and a dangerous one at that. Believe me when I say that what she did to Jack… that would not have been the end of it. Had we stayed she would have killed us."

"I… I don't understand." Rose stammered.

"The TARDIS wasn't wrong," he explained, "out there it really is 1952, it's like I said, time is changing, but I don't know why."

"Hang on," Rose thought, "what about my mum? If there is a clone of her running around London 10 years before she was even born then who made it? Where is she now? What happened to her?"

Suddenly the Doctor was at the TARDIS controls, pushing buttons and pulling levers, they were on the move again.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, "Where are we going?"

"We're taking you home Rose… for real this time. I'm going to try and save your mother," he told her, "But I'm sorry Rose we may already be too late."


	6. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 

Please READ and REVIEW this chapter guys. I really appreciate reviews and enjoy reading them because it helps me to improve my work. I do take reviews into consideration and as I have said before they really help me to improve my work. So remember as many reviews as possible guys :D

"Mum… MUM!" Rose shouted, practically screaming as she raced up the stone steps to Jackie's flat back in 21st century London. The Doctor was barely a step behind her, though Jack was struggling to keep up, pail and damp from the exertion as he tried to keep the pain he was in under control. The Doctor had applied fresh bandages in the space of just a few minutes but the wound was still bleeding and already raw. He caught his two companions up just as Rose reached the door of her mother's flat and froze with the shock of the sight that met with her gaze. The door had been completely blown in, so had the doors of many of the other flats and those that remained intact were sitting open, some doors swinging on their hinges, splinters of wood littered the balcony outside.

"MUM!" Rose cried again as she forced her way through the debris and into the flat.

"Rose no…" Jack shouted trying to force his way in front of the Doctor to reach her.

"Rose don't!" The Doctor reached out to grab her but it was already too late, Rose stood in what was her old hallway staring back at them as though they were both crazy.

"… whoever… whatever did this could still be in there." Jack told her.

"Do you think I care about that right now?" She asked.

"Getting yourself killed won't help anyone!" The Doctor told her off. Rose just turned her back on them and made her way into the apartment, figuring that something would have most probably happened by now if there was any real threat the Doctor and Jack made their way in after her.

Suddenly Rose stopped dead in her tracks… "I… I don't understand…" she muttered.

"What's the matter?" The Doctor asked her, pushing forwards protectively trying to put himself between his two companions and any threat she may have suddenly encountered in the sitting room. As he worked his way forwards he stopped still next to Rose, what ever it was that he had been expecting to see nothing could have prepared him for reality… The flat was pristine, no signs of a struggle. There were the remains of a fast food chip meal sitting on the coffee table… not as though they had suddenly been abandoned, half eaten, but the paper screwed up and discarded, left cold and greasy as though somebody had planned to tidy up the morning after. Further evidence for this sat on the dining table, a half finished mug of stale coffee and the crusts of partially eaten toast, like the greasy paper in the sitting room it too didn't look as though it had been abandoned suddenly.

"It's like the Mary Celest," The Doctor joked, smiling in Rose's direction. She gave him a look of total disgust and turned away. "Sorry…" he said, "that was wrong of me."

"Mum?" Rose called out, going from silent and empty room to silent and empty room searching for any sign of life… nothing.

"What's going on?" Jack asked the Doctor. He was breathing hard now and had propped himself up against the wall, "By rights the whole flat should be trashed by the state of out there." He indicated towards the outside balcony with his thumb revealing the bloodstained bandage on his left hand.

"How long has that been like that?" The Doctor asked concerned.

Jack looked down at his hand and shrugged painfully.

"We need to find you a doctor…"

"She's not here." Rose interrupted him as she came back out into the hall. "It doesn't look as though she's been here in days…"

"How can you tell that?" The Doctor asked.

"I found her mobile on her bedside table. She has text messages unread from three days ago!" Rose threw the phone into the Doctor's outstretched hands, she knew it wasn't really his fault, but she couldn't help it, she needed somebody to be angry at… somebody to blame… somebody other than herself.

"I'm sorry Rose." The Doctor said, as much to himself as to her.

"We will find her Rose." Jack said, a note of total conviction in his voice.

"I'm just… so scared." She looked down at the floor, her eyes glistening with tears. At this Jack walked stiffly over to her and embraced her, holding her to him with his one good hand. She grabbed him, not wanting to let him go, his body was warm against hers, his breath gently tickling her ear, the way Mickey's used to, only Jack's was sweeter… MICKY!… the thought suddenly occurred to her bringing on another wave of fear and panic… her head was spinning.

"Thanks," she said, pulling away from Jack and drying her eyes on her jacket sleeves. "Thanks," she sniffed.

"We'd better get a move on…" The Doctor cut in, "we don't want to stay here…"

"Wait!" Rose halted him. "Look…" she pointed to an area of wall where Jack had been standing only moments before. A small red smear was visible against it's pale surface. "Blood…" Rose muttered.

"It's probably from Jack," the Doctor pointed out matter of factly looking up at him.

"No…" Rose exclaimed as she walked over and tested the stain with her finger, "it's dry…"

"Excuse me, what are you lot doing in here then?" A foreign voice made all three jump and spin round. A strange man stood in the doorway staring at them. He was watching them intently, an expression of suspicion and curiosity written all over his face, and as they looked more closely they saw to their horror that he was carrying a gun!


	7. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ & REVIEW**

"I will ask you again." The man repeated when all three failed to respond, his face swelling with what appeared to be a combination of annoyance and a hint of disguised pride at having caught what he saw as three trespassers in the act, "who are you? And what are you doing here?"

"umm…I'm…I'm…"

"The Doctor," the Doctor cut in as Rose stood stammering, trying to compose herself. "This is Rose Tyler and Captain Jack Harkness my companions, and who may you be?"

"PC Plod," the man said and at this Rose burst into hysterical laughter.

"You can't be serious?" she giggled.

"No miss," he gave her a 'some people are so gullible' look, his voice full of sarcasm, "I am a police officer though." He added threateningly.

"Sorry." She clasped her lips tight together in a pained smile, repressing any further bouts of laughter.

"So then doctor… doctor who?" he turned to the doctor, his voice full of disgust.

"That's right." The Doctor grinned.

"Pardon?"

"What?"

"What's your name? Surely your not just called doctor?" their new acquaintance asked sarcastically.

"I prefer it that way." The Doctor spoke briefly, "Besides what's in a name?"

"I've had enough of this, let me see your identification!"

Rose watched as both the Doctor and Jack produced the psychic paper from their pockets and in that moment felt a distinct pang of empathy for Jack who's concentration was being severely impaired by the pain he was in. If he couldn't pull this off they would all be for it.

She looked on as the officer examined both pieces of paper with a critical frown. Beads of sweat were forming on Jacks forehead as he tried to suppress his pain and focus only on what he wanted the official to know.

"Well everything seems in order. But your details," he said turning to Jack, "are printed too faintly, you need to get a reprint." Finally the psychic paper was returned to its owners and Rose breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now miss, may I see your ID?" he turned to Rose.

"I… I don't have any." She looked from the Doctor to Jack, who looked totally taken aback.

"Then I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me." He said removing a pair of police handcuffs from his belt. His voice was harsh, and proud all at the same time. He made Rose sick, the perverted grin on his face that showed off a row of bad teeth the colour of clay, the mocking expression in his eyes, the cocky aura of his presence.

"Now hang on a minute," Jack stepped forward defensively.

"Jack." The Doctor spoke suddenly and with such an air of authority that it made all three stop and turn to look at him, "there's no need for that officer," he continued, "Rose lives here… well used to live here, before… well we don't want to go into that now but we're looking for Jackie Tyler, Rose's mum… she lives here…"

"Oh," the officer said replacing his handcuffs in his belt rather grudgingly, "well I'm afraid she's not here."

"We can see that!" Rose snapped, "where is she?"

"I take it you haven't heard?" he looked at her.

"Heard what?"

"It's been all over the news. A mysterious virus started wiping out the people in London. Hundreds of people were discovered on the same morning sitting in front of their television sets suddenly three days ago, faces contorted with looks of surprise and pain. Strange thing is at autopsy it was found that their brains were just literally turned into mush. The whole of London is being evacuated. Special safety houses have been set up all over the city but I doubt it will do much good. I can't tell you where your mum may be but I tell ya, if she got out of here safely she's lucky to be alive. They removed at least ten people from this very block of flats just yesterday, all dead."

"No!" Rose screamed at him "I want the truth! Don't you dare lie to me like that! Don't you dare! How could you be so cruel?"

"Rose… Rose…" the Doctor's voice was blunt but soothing as he tried to calm her uncharacteristic fit of hysterics, "I think he's telling the truth."

"How can you say that?" she turned to face the Doctor.

"Think about it Rose, why would he lie? It all fits. There's nobody here Rose, the place is deserted… and the mess…"

"But I saw her!" Rose cried, "You saw her…"

"I never said I thought she was dead." The Doctor explained.

"Well you could try the shelter down the road," the officer cut in, "all the survivors were taken there yesterday afternoon after they had been checked over, but I wouldn't hold out much hope." He looked at his watch, "I must be getting on," he said before making his exit.

"But hang on… wait!" Rose called, running after him. "You can't just…" She halted on the stone balcony linking all the flats on her level together… "He's vanished," she uttered in surprise.

"We must have scared him off," Jack joked.

"Or not…" the Doctor frowned, he was obviously concerned by Rose's new revelation about their new acquaintance and not convinced by Jack's forced attempts at good humour.

"Well what ever it is that is bothering you will have to wait." Rose told the Doctor, "I'm going to find my mum." and with that she took off back the way they had come, with the Doctor and Jack in toe.


	8. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

**Come on people… no reviews since Chapter 4? Please R&R.**

The shelter wasn't that hard to find, it appeared now to be the only place in London that wasn't deserted. They hadn't been wondering the streets long looking for any sign of habitation when they were approached by a couple of very exhausted looking policemen and after taking a moment to explain the situation they soon found themselves been directed back the way they had already come, and to an old warehouse.

As they approached Rose couldn't help but think that if there ever was a World War Three this is how she would have pictured it. People had been crammed in together like cattle into cattle trucks. The police officer had said that those people who had made it were lucky, but looking around it looked as though the whole of London was here. Frightened children were screaming for their mother's attention and whole families were huddled together crying and preying. Rose thought it was like a scene from one of those crappy horror movies that she used to go and watch with Mickey when there was nothing else decent on – only this was very real. As they entered the ground floor of the warehouse they were handed blankets and cups of lukewarm congealed cocoa.

"What's going on here?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"People are afraid," he told her, "remember it's all over the news… officials have obviously told them that if they all stick together they will be safe…"

"And you obviously don't think so?" Rose interrupted.

"If there really is a threat to human life then no," the Doctor explained bluntly.

"Then they're all just sitting here, like sheep to the slaughter." Jack frowned.

"Grouping people together like this only makes it more likely that the virus will spread quicker, if one person here is infected then everybody is at risk… it's a mass execution."

"But why would anyone…"

"ROSE!" At the sound of her name Rose turned to see her mum fighting the crowd of frantic people to get to her, "ROSE!"

"MUM!" she shouted, she made to run to get her, help her through the crowd, but eh Doctor held her back.

"Wait." He told her, "We need to stick together, if we get separated in this crowd it's going to be too difficult to find each other again, we may not have that much time. Wait for her to come to us."

"Mum," Rose shouted, turning back in her mother's direction "We're not going anywhere!" She reached her arm out to try and grab her, "I can't reach you!" she screamed. Suddenly her hand met with another, a woman's, Rose could tell by the pieces of metal masquerading as rings that were now digging into the fingers of her right hand like a vice… although come to think of it she realised that that really wasn't necessarily a determinate of gender in this day and age. Preying that whoever she now had a tight hold upon was her mother she counted to three '1, 2, 3' and pulled. Jackie Tyler was swept through the crowd, and bedraggled and looking as though she had certainly had better days came face to face with her daughter. For a moment she stood in shock before gradually coming to her senses.

"Oh Rose" her mum whispered as she clutched her tightly to her. Jackie Tyler had been pushed back so many times by the bewildered and terrified crowd, Rose just wanted to hold her, she had felt sure that if she could just reach out to her mother nothing could hurt her, she would be safe… and part of her also wanted to make sure that this Jackie really was her mother. "Thank God you're safe." Her mum smoothed her hands over Rose's hair, her voice full of suppressed emotion.

"I thought you were dead." Rose said teary eyed, still embracing her mother. "When I saw the blood and the devastation of the place and everything…"

"Hang on, blood?"

"There was blood… on the wall."

"Oh that? It was nothing sweetheart," her mother explained stroking Rose's arm comfortingly, "I grazed my hand in the rush to get out of the flat, it was nothing more than a scratch really." She indicated the knuckles on her left hand which Rose now saw were cut and incrusted with dry blood and dirt. She winced.

"That looks sore."

"Well I won't deny that it could do with a clean, but I'm pretty sure it looks and feels worse than it actually is." Her mother said with a disgusted glance at the wound. Jackie Tyler always liked to look her best and Rose suspected that the wound just served as a constant reminder that this was hardly one of her most flattering moments.

"It must have been terrifying, I mean they could have handled things a little more subtly." Rose added sympathetically.

"What do you mean?"

"Evicting you all like that… I mean what ever happened to calm and controlled?" She asked, thinking back to how these kinds of situations had always been handled in the television drama's that she knew so many of her species liked to spend their evenings watching… although Rose had never shared their taste in the overly dramatic and, in her opinion, totally unrealistic.

"Well to be quite honest I was surprised at how organised the whole thing was." Jackie told them, "There was a meeting called the evening before telling us about what was going to happen and explaining how we were all perfectly safe and how this was just a precaution…"

"But I saw the flat, the mess… and you said you were in a rush." Rose cut in.

"I overslept sweetheart." He mother looked at her, "You can't expect me to get it right all the time… but what's all this about the flat? I don't understand, everything was fine when I left…"

"I think I'm beginning to understand." The Doctor muttered.

"Ey?" Rose asked.

"It's like Jack said, human guinea-pigs, they are using the humans as part of a mass experiment. Send their little virus to earth and let it take its toll on the population, only don't allow too many people to get sick, just enough to cause a scare and then elevate the situation into something that has the potential to cause a full scale panic. Post it all over the news and rumours will soon start to spread, people will listen to anybody if they think their lives are at stake. Then whilst people are vulnerable tell them something like the virus is spreading, the streets are not safe anymore, they have to go into hiding, anything that gets them out of their own homes. Then whilst their homes are empty, go in, take what you want, anything is yours for the asking…" The Doctor was clearly exited by this new revelation of his. He was reeling off information so quickly Rose could barely keep track of what he was saying.

"Excuse me Doctor?" She asked, "But who, and what exactly are they looking for?"

"DNA!" The Doctor stated.

"What?"

"Anything containing human DNA. Don't you see, oh they're clever, oh so very clever, they're breeding a human laboratory, sending them all throughout time and space and infecting them with this virus… that's what happened with the clone of your mum Rose, they must have found the blood. I thought they must have killed her in order to extract that much DNA needed to recreate an entire human being but they must have developed the technology to multiply the chromosomes enough to create life in it's entire form." He stood looking at them both now, a huge grin spread across his whole face.

"So nobody's actually died as yet?" Rose asked, her spirits lifting, "Everything's alright?"

"Ah, well," the Doctor hesitated, "Of course there has been some human sacrifice, I mean these are cold, calculated minds we are dealing with here, what's a couple of insignificant humans here and there if they could save a whole planet… or even better a whole universe?"

"That's sick." Rose almost shouted, and she thought she noticed the Doctor give her a brief shrug of his shoulders as if to say, 'That's life, deal with it,' but she couldn't be sure.

"We need to get out of here." The Doctor told them. "We can't risk staying here too long, we are not immune to the infection, we are just as much at risk as everyone else here, and that's a risk none of us can afford to take especially as the world is relying on us to save _them_… where's Jack?" The Doctor suddenly looked around realising that Jack was no longer amongst them.

"I don't know," Rose said, expressing a confused and concerned frown.

Suddenly they heard retching coming from outside and went to investigate. Jack was leaning up against the wall around the corner, his face pale, a glazed look in his eyes, it was evident to all three that he had just vomited.

"Sorry," he told the three people now standing before him.

"Oh I'm sorry Jack," The Doctor said, "I had totally forgotten about your hand."

"I feel terrible," Rose said. "So had I."

"Don't worry," Jack gave a forced smile, "You've had more important things to focus on, I understand, a bit of sympathy wouldn't go a miss though if you can afford to spare me a few moments." He chuckled now, not forced like before, but genuinely cheeky, well that was Jack for you Rose thought to herself and smiled back.

"The only attention you'll be getting from now on will be medical," the Doctor said, "Come on we've put it off long enough," and to Rose's surprise the Doctor went up to Jack and put his arm around his companion, the first signs of true compassion she had ever seen him express towards Jack, "Jackie," he asked, "if you would be so kind as to direct us to the local hospital we would be very grateful… think of it as pay back for saving your life." And with that the four left the warehouse far behind them.


	9. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

The hospital had not been that difficult to find, it had been clearly signposted at every corner the closer they got. Humans must be weaker than he had at first assumed the Doctor thought. So vulnerable to disease and accident prone that they could be struck down at any moment… a bit like ten pin bowling, sitting ducks waiting to accept their fait – just like those poor ignorant souls they had encountered at the shelter. However now he stood outside the magnificent Victorian building with all it's modern extensions he was no longer sure what to make of it.

"I don't understand." He frowned.

"Neither do I." Rose muttered.

"You would have thought that with all these reports of sickness the place would be buzzing… where are all the sick people? Concerned mothers and their children? This doesn't make sense." He continued.

The place was deserted, a single abandoned ambulance sat in the car park and as the Doctor peered through the double doors he noticed that the reception area and waiting room was empty… although he didn't fail to notice the lone, very bored looking receptionist who had yet failed to abandon her post. This pleased him somewhat, at least they were still open for business…

"Please." Jack suddenly uttered. The Doctor turned to look at him. "This is killing me." Jack said indicating his bloodied bandaged hand, "Let's just get it over with."

The Doctor sighed, "Well at least we'll avoid the queue," he grinned, "I hate long waits… too impatient that's my problem, can't sit still for a minute, you may have noticed." Jack and Rose smiled. "Jackie…" The Doctor said turning to his tempory companion "I want you to go back and wait for us in the TARDIS. We'll join you as soon as we can." He handed her the key. "It's in the usual spot, but _don't touch ANYTHING_." He emphasised the last three words as though he were speaking to a child.

"Don't worry I'm not going to…" she mouthed back "time travel… space travel… I don't want to end up three billion years in the past with a T-Rex practically shoved up me arse and running for me life… what do you think I am, stupid?" The Doctor looked at her as though he was seriously considering her comment.

"Well actually…" he began.

"And don't answer that." She pointed a finger threateningly at him.

"I was only going to tell you that you've over shot a little… tyrannosaurs rex died out only 70 million years ago. I don't quite know what you would encounter three billion years ago but it certainly wouldn't be a dinosaur."

"I get the point Doctor, I wont touch anything, OK?"

"OK."

Rose watched as her mother began to make her way back the way they had just come, thinking that in just a few hours she had gone from seeing her on the verge of killing them all (or at least her clone as she now knew it had been) to thinking she was dead, to finding her again alive and well… it was only just beginning to dawn on her just how close she had thought she had come to losing the only family she had left in not just the world but the whole universe. She had seen such devastation whilst travelling with the Doctor, whole families ripped apart by war, killed, imprisoned, and it made her feel how lucky she really was. She wished that she could promise her Mum that after this she would finish it, end her adventures with The Doctor and Jack and live out the rest of her life as she had started, find a new job, move out of the flat, marry, have children eventually… all the things that had been expected of her whilst growing up… but she knew that wasn't possible. She wasn't the same person she had once been, she didn't want the things that she had used to want. Being with the Doctor had changed her, it had changed Jack to she could see that… and maybe one day it would change her mum and Mickey as well.

"Rose?" She heard a voice from behind her. "Rose are you coming?" She turned to see the Doctor standing looking at her, holding the doors open, expecting her to follow.

"Yeah." She smiled, "yeah I'm coming," and it was only then, when she focused her eyes again, that she noticed that her mum had gone and she was staring at nothing. She smiled at her sentimentality, before turning to follow the Doctor and Jack into the deserted hospital.

"Yes?" the receptionist looked up as they entered.

"We need to see a Doctor." The Doctor smiled, "I'm afraid it's rather urgent."

"Well I'm going to need to take some details first." She droned, "It's procedure I'm afraid."

The Doctor sighed as she drew a form out from a near by draw and started hunting round for a pen. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the desk.

"Right then if you could just fill out this form." She said finally.

"Look I don't have time for this," Rose turned, surprised to see that it was Jack who spoke this time. "My name is Jack Harkness, _Captain _Jack Harkness if you must know, these are my companions The Doctor and Rose, that should be all the details you need… now if you don't mind I'm in a lot of pain," he said indicating towards his hand, "So if you would be so kind…"

"His a doctor?" The woman pointed at the Doctor, "why can't he treat you?"

"I'm not that kind of Doctor." The Doctor said.

"And from what I can see you're hardly rushed off your feet are you?" Rose added maliciously, trying to control her growing frustration with this new acquaintance of there's.

"Alright, alright no need to get your knickers in a twist sweetheart, I'm only doing my job." She said as she replaced the form in the draw. "Take a seat, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank You." Rose forced a smile.

As they turned away to take a seat in the empty waiting room the Doctor sucked in a breath in a long, admiring whistle.

"You're a force to be reckoned with." Jack grinned.

"I have my moments." She smiled.

They had barely sat down when an eager looking young doctor appeared round the corner. Rose noticed immediately that the name tag he had pinned to his uniform sported the name Wilson. It didn't take him long to notice his new patients… they looked rather out of place in the emptiness of the great expanse of the room. Rose could well imagine it at it's busiest time, and couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of concern as to why it was so empty now.

"If you'd like to come this way." Doctor Wilson gestured for the three of them to follow him, and Rose to her embarrassment suddenly realised that she had been day-dreaming again when she turned to see both doctors and Jack standing looking at her.

"Sorry," she said.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked her as she got up to follow.

"Yeah," she said brushing off his concern. "Things have just changed so much since I was last here and it's only been a couple of months."

"Well time doesn't stand still." The Doctor pointed out, looking around cautiously to make sure that none of the hospital staff were listening.

"I know." She almost whispered, "But I've seen so much already, always someone else's worry, someone else's loss. I guess things just hit harder when the danger is a lot closer to home."

Suddenly she felt a comforting arm around her and turned to see Jack, sporting a sympathetic expression.

"Something's bothering you." The Doctor pointed out.

"I'm not worried for my own safety." Rose urged, "It's just my mum… had we not come back when we did. She's all the family I have left Doctor."

"Arrrrrrr," the Doctor let out a slow intake of breath in sudden understanding, "do you think that our coming here now was nothing more than coincidence?"

"I don't understand."

"We were called here Rose. The TARDIS doesn't always just go where I tell her to, she goes where she is called. I checked her energy supply again just before we left, it's full. She wasn't running low on energy she knew we needed to come here… in fact I suspect this may be my fault." He added almost to himself.

"Pardon?" Rose asked not catching his last utterance.

"I was just thinking," The Doctor continued more loudly, "Your mum… she could come with us if you like?"

Rose turned to look at him, an element of both shock and grateful surprise written all over her face. "You mean travel with us?"

"Well just until the danger is over at least." He said.

Rose was suddenly overcome by a sudden wave of emotion, a combination of sheer relief and happiness which could have proved devastating to her pride as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Thank You." She smiled gratefully as she hugged the Doctor. "Thank You."

Doctor Wilson carefully began to remove Jack's bandages. Rose grimaced and turned away as the last couple of layers had to be gently prised away from his skin. The wound had been seriously mangled after the attack upon Jack by her mother's clone earlier. The torn flesh had begun to bleed heavily and some of the blisters had burst releasing yellow puss from the wound sticking the bandage to the flesh in the heat of the summer's day outside.

"The hospitals not normally this empty." Wilson looked up, seeing his young acquaintance's expression and trying to take her mind off things. "People seem to have lost faith in us since news of this virus started spreading around. They seem to blame us for not finding a cure… and yet I haven't seen evidence of a single case."

"I'm sure things will pick up soon, people can be so fickle, they will learn to trust you again," Rose smiled, he returned her gesture as their eyes met for just a moment before he returned to work.

"I'm going to give you a local." He told Jack, "I need to clean the wound before re-dressing it. It might sting a little."

"I think I would prefer nano-genes any day." Jack whispered to Rose with a sigh.

"Don't be such a baby." Rose grinned at him. "It'll all be over in a moment."

"What was that?" Wilson asked, as he turned back to face the small group, needle now in hand. "Sorry but what the hell is a nano-gene?"

"Nano-genes?" The Doctor asked, "no idea… now now children play nicely." He said turning to Jack and Rose, his eyebrows raised in warning.

Jack winced as the needle penetrated his flesh. "Sorry," Wilson said, "It will begin to feel better soon." Jack just nodded. Rose could tell that he still didn't entirely trust the doctor now sitting in front of him but there was no backing out now. Jack felt a sense of relief as his hand gradually started to go numb, he was shocked to find that he had almost grown use to the pain over the last few hours and as it now finally dulled so did his almost constant nausea. It didn't take Wilson long to clean up the wound, although it looked quite a mess. Wilson then dressed it with special bandages, nothing like the one's the Doctor had already applied although Jack knew that he had done the best for him under the circumstances, he guessed that the TARDIS just wasn't equipped for such emergencies. As Wilson began to clear away he advised Jack to sit quietly for a while, instructing him to tell him if he felt any dizziness or drowsy. The Doctor pulled the young medic aside.

"How is he?" he asked concerned.

"You're companion has sustained a very severe burn but I'm sure he will be OK. It's going to need time to heal. Normal policy would be to admit patient's exhibiting serious injuries but as you can probably tell these are not normal times… may I ask how it happened?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," the Doctor replied, quickly attempting to change the subject, "I'm afraid I wasn't there when it happened."

"Well you've done a good job treating him in the way you did. I really don't feel that your friend is in need of any further treatment."

The Doctor just nodded before turning back to face Rose and Jack. "Right shall we be off then?" he said rubbing his hands together and grinning. "I don't think we want to stay here any longer than necessary… how you feeling Jack?"

"Great!" Jack grinned.

"Well then, thank you doctor?…………….. Wilson." He spoke, suddenly noticing the name pinned to the doctor's coat. "And I hope you won't mind if I say I hope we don't see you again any time soon."

"Oh I'm used to it," the young doctor smiled, "comes with the job description… shall I come down with you?"

"I think we can remember our way out."

"Well if you're sure…"

Outside the hospital Jack was just glad to have it all over and done with. It hadn't been so bad he guessed but he still had a hard time trusting anyone in a white coat. He wrapped both his arms round his companions shoulders, pinching Rose's bottom playfully as he did so. She jumped, blushing.

"Hey you," she smiled, "You must be feeling better."

"There was never anything wrong with me." Jack lied.

"Yes well this is one bottom that is totally off limits." She stuck her tong out at him playfully.

"What not even to someone in need of a little TLC?" he asked with mock hurt in his voice.

"I thought you said you were fine."

"We all need a little lovin sometimes sweetheart." He winked, "Why don't you come back to my place and we could…" but he never finished what he was about to say. Suddenly he stumbled, holding his hand up to his head and the Doctor only just managed to grab him in time before he fell on his face. The smile was wiped from Rose's face in an instant.

"Hey Jack you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah fine." He replied, "sorry about that, guess the effects of that anaesthetic just haven't worn off yet hey? Come on lets get back, you're mum will be wondering where we are."

The Doctor slowly released Jack from his grasp worried that he may fall again if he was left to walk on his own but to his relief what ever it was that had appeared to afflict him only moments before now appeared to have gone as quick as it had come and they continued the rest of their journey in silence.

When they finally reached the TARDIS they noticed Jackie standing outside the door speaking to someone.

"MICKEY!" Rose screamed as recognition dawned on her as they grew closer. She flung herself on him in a huge embrace. "I thought you might be dead."

"I knew you wouldn't let us down." He muttered to her as he held her tightly to him.

"Hey it's Ricky." The Doctor grinned.

"It's Mickey." Both Mickey and Rose spoke together smiling.

"Thank You Doctor." Mickey smiled.

"For what?" The Doctor asked, only half confused.

"For saving us." Mickey said.

"I haven't done anything yet." He explained. At this Mickey looked downhearted and for once the Doctor thought that maybe this wasn't the best time to be playing mind games with the kid. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to do everything I can to save you. Jackie I'm going to need your help with this one." He said turning to her.

"What?" she looked surprised. "You mean me? Come travelling with you? In _that_ thing?" she indicated the TARDIS.

"I have an idea about what's happening," he explained. "But I'm afraid we don't have much time and as much as it pains me I need all the help I can get."

"What about me?" Mickey asked hopefully.

"What about you?" The Doctor asked.

"I could come with you."

"You would be too much if a liability." The Doctor told him bluntly, "Too many people would just complicate things." At this Mickey looked more cross than disappointed. The Doctor knew that deep down Mickey just wanted the same approval from him that he saw the Doctor give Rose. "Look," he said more gently. "I'm going to do all that I can to save you I promise, but you really must stay here. I have no use for you… Right well sorry to rush," he added, getting back into his old ways. "But we really must be going. Back before you know it."

"See ya." Rose kissed Mickey on the cheek.

"Yeah see ya." Mickey raised a hand in farewell to Rose.

"I'm going to lie down for a bit." Jack told his companions as the TARDIS door closed behind them and he heard the familiar drone of the TARDIS disappearing. The Doctor frowned, this was totally out of character for his usually lively companion and he was still concerned about his unwillingness to let them help him when he fell. Seeing the concern in the Doctor's face Jack spoke, "I'm just a little tired," he explained, "I will be back soon," then adding more desperately, "I just need time Doctor." Before leaving the main control room.

"I'll put the kettle on." Rose said, "Mum I'll show you the kitchen." And as the two women left, obviously the Doctor figured to have a catch up session over tea and biscuits, he was left alone to set up a suitable travel path for the TARDIS, and reflect upon the day's events with a heavy heart.


	10. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

**OK well Chapter 9 is now up, thanks for being patient guys. I'm sorry if my last chapter seemed a little rushed, I'm still in the middle of revision at the moment but I try to not let it affect my work too much. I apologise if this chapter is quite short, it has nothing to do with my studies I assure you, this was how the chapter would have planned out anyway. Anyway as usual I hope you enjoy what you read and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO READ & REVIEW!**

"It just all happened so suddenly," Jackie explained as the three of them sat around the kitchen table in the TARDIS sipping sweet tea and snacking on a packet of slightly crushed ginger biscuits that Rose had found in the back of one of the cupboards. The label indicated that they were best before sometime in the 1960's but they had been kept perfectly preserved within the time vortex of the TARDIS. The Doctor had joined them now, taking a rare moment of pleasure as he licked the hot, sweet liquid from his lips although avoiding the biscuits, he listened attentively to Jackie's retelling of the events of the last couple of days.

"One day we just turned on the TV and it was all over the news… apparently some young woman, newly married or something, had been found in the early hours of the morning by her husband. He called an ambulance but they were both dead by the time they arrived, their brains had been completely liquefied poor sods… they reckoned they must have been infected for at least three days before they finally succumbed." She took another sip of the luke warm liquid, steadily cooling in her grasp, before she continued. "After that more and more people became sick seemingly overnight, it wasn't long before it reached our side of the city. Old Mrs Morrison two doors down copped it first, such a shame. You remember her Rose? She baby sat for you a couple of times?" She asked turning to her daughter. "Well you were very young." She responded when her daughter failed to recall. "They called a community meeting on that evening. Apparently they brought ten other victims out of local flats that morning to, by the next day it seemed that hundreds of officials were being brought in to evacuate us. We weren't allowed to take anything with us except the clothes we were already wearing, if we did they threatened to remove any valuables and burn them."

Suddenly as Jackie went silent the Doctor, who had been sitting, listening with a slightly amused expression on his face gave a slight chuckle to himself.

"Oh I'm glad you're finding this funny Doctor." Jackie suddenly snapped, feeling totally overwhelmed by the foreignness of the whole situation, " believe it or not we don't all actively seek a dangerous life!"

"The human race, such intelligence wasted on such simple minds." The Doctor remarked insultingly, alerting Rose to the stress that the day's events were beginning to put on him. "You'll believe anything won't you? Passive Guinea Pigs weaving your way through life, hiding behind anyone claiming to be able to prolong your monotonous existence… yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir, we'll do anything you say sir just save us from this big bad world!"

"I bed your pardon!" Jackie snarled, "What gives you the right to…"

"There never was any illness." The Doctor explained cutting her off in mid flow. "Not in the way that you mean anyway, not to start with, just a few random individuals, a small sacrifice. You were all safe whilst you were all shut up in your own little homes… now though you've all put yourselves in great danger!"

"I… I don't understand." Jackie suddenly faltered, her overly defensive disposition melting away in an instant as instincts of fear and confusion overtook her.

"A hoax." Frustration was beginning to creep into the Doctor's voice now. "To scare the human race into hiding. A few infected people here, a few there to make it appear you have an epidemic on your hands. There was never any real threat… but now… now that they've grouped everybody together like sheep to the slaughter the virus will spread, and fast, hundreds… maybe thousands of people will die! The perfect plan, if making human clones was the main motive…"

"Excuse me?" Jackie asked, "Could you run this all by me again please?"

"Somebody's messing with time." Rose explained. "Who or even what we don't know yet… we… we…"

"Rose she wouldn't understand." The Doctor interjected.

"Understand what?" It was Jackie's turn to feel frustrated now.

"There's a clone of you running around in 1952." Rose blurted out, unsure of how to put it to her mum in any other. "We… I thought it _was_ you at first… but… but _it_ tried to hurt Jack and kill us all."

"Everything's linked." The Doctor explained to a bewildered Jackie, "This virus, your clone, the interference with the time vortex, its all part of something even greater that even I don't understand yet. The question is…" but he didn't get any further.

"OH GOD NO!" Suddenly all three were silenced as a shout, almost like a desperate scream erupted, echoing through the empty chambers of the TARDIS and meeting their ears almost as clearly as though it had been made by someone in the same room. Something was wrong! The TARDIS was alerting the Doctor to something desperately amiss and as usual he never failed to respond. He was up and running in an instant without so much as an explanation to his other two companions who just blindly followed him. He needed no explanation, he knew before he even entered the room. That single name which kept spinning in his head, spurring him on to go faster, to get there sooner, which made his blood freeze inside his body in blind fear… Jack!


	11. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

**Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since my last update. I have found this chapter particularaly difficult to write but hopefully you like it. Sorry about the rather evil cliffhanger at the end of my last chapter, I couldn't resist! Anyway PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ & REVIEW!**

It seemed to take the Doctor ages to reach Jack's room, his two companions fighting to catch their breath as they trailed along behind him, struggling to keep up. As the Doctor reached Jack's room first he noticed the door was ajar and immediately blessed the TARDIS for thinking ahead of their arrival. Jack was still crying out, although whether in pain or fear it was impossible to tell, maybe a combination of both, and as the Doctor entered the ill-lit room in front of the two women the door creaked slightly as he eased it open. It took Rose and Jackie's eyes time to adjust to the unnatural dark of the room but to the Doctor it was immediately apparent what was happening and he froze in horror at the sight of the young Jack thrashing around in bed, his arms flailing aimlessly as he kicked at the covers desperately with his pale legs.

"NO… HELP ME… THE PAIN… DOCTOR!"

Jack's whole body was pale in fact, too pale, almost dangerously pale the Doctor observed, and he was soaked in sweat. Rose rushed forward immediately, but the Doctor caught her gently just as she dashed passed him, stopping her in her tracks.

"We need to wake him gently." He explained. "We can't risk startling him."

Rose was overwhelmed by Jack's distress, her sense of concern and apprehension unbearable, so much that she had failed to realise that to give Jack a sudden shock now could prove dangerous for all involved if he reacted by lashing out.

The Doctor walked quietly over to the bed, placing a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder.

"NO GET OFF ME!" Jack suddenly screamed, thrashing out with clenched fists, coming close to impacting harshly with the Doctor's face. Suddenly the Doctor grabbed him, careful to avoid the bandaged areas of the young man's still delicate hand, holding him down so tightly that to the shock of everyone present red and purple bruises immediately began to form of Jack's wrists. The Doctor automatically loosened his grip on his companion and, speaking softly, tried to rouse him.

"Jack," he spoke "Jack wake up." Jack stirred restlessly before slowly opening his eyes.

"Doctor?" he whispered weakly, before bolting upright in bed, "ROSE!" he panicked, his expression glazed and distant.

"Shhhh" the Doctor coaxed.

"It's OK Jack, I'm here." Rose reassured him, coming up on the opposite side of the bed to the Doctor, gently stroking Jack's rosy check with her soft fingers.

Jack jumped with the sudden physical contact, absent-mindedly caressing Rose's delicate skin before being spurred back to reality.

"Hey sweet lips," he flirted with her, becoming more like the Jack she knew and loved, although this time when he said it there was something different about him, something troubling, alerting Rose to the fact that this time it was all nothing but a charade.

"Hey," she smiled warmly.

"I'm sorry." Jack apologised, turning to the Doctor his chest heaving with exertion.

"How are you feeling now?" the Doctor asked him, concern written all over his face.

"It was just a bad dream." Jack brushed off the Doctor's concern "You know me, I'll bounce back, nothing I can't handle." He added with a forced grin.

"We need to get you out of those wet clothes." The Doctor pointed out noticing that as he patted Jack comfortingly on the shoulder his pyjamas were drenched in cold sweat. "Rose, could you put those fresh sheets on the bed?" he asked noticing that Jack's bed covers too were soaked and indicating to where the TARDIS had knowingly laid out a fresh set of bed sheets and casings unobserved.

"Can't wait to get my top off then hey Doctor?" Jack smiled cheekily.

"Don't go thinking I'm going to dress you." The Doctor spoke "You're old enough to do that yourself." Although his tone was distinctly playful.

"Awww, spoil sport." Jack teased with mock disappointment in his voice. Suddenly he doubled over, gripping his head tightly as he was overcome by an intense sensation of burning pain to his skull.

"Jack what is it?" The Doctor asked, taking a firm hold of his companion's shoulders.

"Jack?" Rose looked up instantly from where she was busy changing the bed, her expression frozen with fear.

"I'm fine." Jack strained with gritted teeth, "It's just a headache that's all."

"Looks more than _just_ a headache to me." The Doctor said, guiding Jack to nearby empty chair, "Let me take a look at you." He continued reaching for Jack's wrist to check his pulse.

"I don't need you to take a look at me!" Jack snapped, but he offered no resistance.

The Doctor frowned with concern as he felt the small rhythmic beat of Jack's pulse below his skin, despite his recent exertion Jack's heart-rate was dangerously slow. He kept his finger in place a few moments more until, to his relief, the tiny beat against his fingers evened out, speeding up as it became more regular. Eventually the Doctor released his grip on Jack's muscular arm allowing his hand to drop back limply to his side.

"Back in a moment." He sang with forced cheer as his three companions watched in confusion as he left the room. He returned a few minutes later brandishing a glass of white, cloudy liquid. "I believe you humans call it aspirin." He spoke in response to Jack's apprehensive look as he offered it to him, "It'll help with the pain."

At this Jack smiled his thanks to the Doctor and gratefully gulped down a couple of mouthfuls of the cool liquid, recoiling slightly as some of it's chalky sediment settled on his tongue before sliding grainily down his throat as he swallowed. Gradually though the pain in Jack's head finally began to subside and he steadily felt able remove his hand from his faintly throbbing cranium.

"Better?" The Doctor asked.

Jack glanced up at him, pale and exhausted, nodding hesitantly.

"Jackie would you pass Jack some fresh pyjamas?" The Doctor turned abruptly in concealed desperation to Rose's mum who returned his gaze, eyes fixed in a stubborn glare. He raised his eyebrows questioningly, almost expectantly at her, and noticing the anxiety in his expression she felt compelled to obey. She selected a set of blue and white checked pyjamas, cotton woven for comfort, from the basically bare cream painted wardrobe in the corner of the room.

"I bet you only act sick so that you can get your kit off in a room full of gorgeous girls." She smiled as she handed Jack the clothes.

"If only." Jack returned her gesture half-heartedly. "…They're not really very me are they?" he asked, screwing his face up with disgust as he held the shirt and trousers out in front of him, inspecting their design.

"Jack it's not a fashion contest." Rose laughed as she finished adding the final layers of sheeting to the bed.

"They're the best the TARDIS can stretch to." The Doctor spoke sternly, "Unless you'd prefer to sleep in the nude?" He suggested.

"Don't encourage him." Rose grinned.

"You have three hours Captain." The Doctor continued, "I'll expect to see you back in the control room later ready for work. We have a lot to do if we're going to save the world. You're not so sick, you're probably just still feeling the effects of the anaesthetic." He smiled reassuringly, although deep down he knew that in three hours Jack would be in no fit state to very much at all.

"Yes sir." Jack saluted playfully, much more contented now than he had been less than an hour ago. Although the Doctor was convinced that they had not seen the end of whatever had afflicted Jack only moments ago, or what it could do, he decided for now as the three of them left Jack to himself that it was best to let him rest peacefully. The Doctor sensed he had a long battle ahead of him yet, and he realised gravely that he was going to need every ounce of energy he could spare if he was going to be able to fight the biological war which even now had started to take it's toll on his fundamentally fragile human form.


	12. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

**OK well I have managed to update this earlier than I thought, hope you guys are still enjoying what I write and please keep the REVIEWS coming I love to hear what you guys think!**

As the Doctor closed Jack's bedroom door behind them he paused for a moment as he heard the young man whistle cheerily from within. Totally back to his old self now Jack had managed to re-establish his defences, re-assert that cheery disposition that he liked to give the impression of, to make it appear to everyone that everything was OK even when it was not… but how long would that last now the Doctor wondered despondently.

"Doctor?" he heard Rose ask as he turned to see her looking at him, tears welling up in her eyes as the implications of what she had just seen began to dawn on her. She did not have to pretend anymore, force a laugh and a grin for Jack's sake, for now he lay resting, blissfully unaware of her torment behind closed doors and she was finding it impossible to hold herself together for much longer. The Doctor looked to Jackie sympathetically, a comforting arm wrapped warmly around her daughter's quivering shoulders and was surprised to see the tell tale lines of concern decorating her face also – he turned away abruptly unable to bear it any longer.

"Follow me," he whispered without looking back.

"Where are we going Doctor?" Jackie asked tensely, refusing to move as the Doctor took off down the corridor, her daughter pulling away from her in pursuit, but the Doctor just turned to look at her, his finger pressed tightly to his lip indicating that he did not want Jack to be disturbed before resuming his lead. At first Rose thought he may be leading them back to the kitchen where all three could find some comfort in the warmth of freshly TARDIS brewed tea, but to her surprise she found that the Doctor lead them on a different route back to the main control room. She could tell that he was anxious, the atmosphere felt almost explosive and Rose guessed that the TARDIS was picking up on the Time Lord's obvious frustration to as he made a beeline for the main control panel and started typing in instructions.

"What's happening to him Doctor?" Rose asked, screwing her face up painfully as tears of despair flowed freely down her pale cheeks.

"I don't know," the Doctor explained after a long pause, his own throat was burning now, the lump in his throat swelling as he himself had to force back his own tears in a bid to remain strong in front of Rose.

"What do you mean you don't know?" she pressed, "Can't you see he's changing?… That wasn't Jack just then… not really… not _our_ Jack." She paused to take a moment to compose herself as hysteria threatened to overwhelm her before continuing, "I'm afraid we're losing him Doctor!"

"We are… in more ways than you could possibly know," the Doctor responded as dawning horror distorted Rose's young features, "his mind is changing Rose" he explained "but I don't know how, and I don't know why."

"But you can do something surely? You can do something to fix this?" She asked.

"No Rose I can't!" The Doctor snapped uncharacteristically at her, but he was tired of being the hero, tired of being the one to deal with everybody's problems, it only meant that the blow hit harder when he had to let people down… and this time the blow was almost catastrophic "I can't because loosing his mind is the least of Jack's problems… Rose I think he's dying!"

Rose froze, the gravity of the Doctor's words taking their toll immediately, "No… this whole thing began since he was given that injection at the hospital, it has to be something to do with that!"

"Rose this is down to something more than a simple dose of anaesthetic given at some poorly equipped earth hospital," the Doctor explained with passion in his voice, "something bigger is occurring here, much bigger, something billions of years in the future!"

"Hang on, how can that be?" Jackie interrupted, her confusion obvious in her voice, "how can something billions of years in the future possibly have any effect on the past when it has already occurred?"

"Because…" the Doctor emphasised "most people assume that time travels in a straight line, from one year to the next with no interactions, yet Rose," he said turning to her, "you of all people should know by now that this is not necessarily the case… sure time travels forwards and backwards but it also travels at varying angles, sideways and parallel as with parallel universes, it's not a simple concept to understand." He explained. "But the truth is that clones of people living in 2005 are turning up in the year 1952 as a result of something taking place billions of years in the future and Jack is now an innocent pawn in this whole business."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**OK well this is my third update to this chapter! Sorry guys, I know the bit at the end about Jack has been removed but don't fear it will re-appear again soon in a chapterall of it's own! I had a few more ideas today lol :D Thanx for all your reviews so far :D please continue to review! I do know where I am going with this so please be patient... and in the mean time ENJOY! **

The TARDIS shock violently as it came to an abrupt landing sometime in the 1700's causing The Doctor and Rose to make a desperate grab for the metal railings surrounding the main controls and sending Jackie flying half way across the abnormally large room, coming to an undignified halt at an odd angle not too far away from the door.

"Mum!" Rose cried, with a small grin on her face as she rushed to help her mother up, rubbing her leg gently where she had just banged it painfully against the heavy TARDIS controls as she did so… that'll bruise tomorrow she thought regretfully before turning to Jackie, "Are you alright?"

"What was that?" Jackie asked, still slightly shaken by her recent and unprecedented flying lesson.

"Sorry." The Doctor piped up cheerily from across the other side of the control room as he had to fight to suppress a small laugh. "That can happen sometimes." Before adding, "You get used to it."

Suddenly he and Rose looked at each other and in that moment found it impossible to control themselves any longer, both bursting out into simultaneous fits of hysterical laughter.

"Well I'm glad you two are finding this funny." Jackie complained as she allowed Rose to help her unsteadily to her feet. The Doctor suddenly distinctly quieter now as he remembered how easily sound travelled in the large expanse of the TARDIS and that Jack was only asleep down the hall, suddenly put a finger to his soft lips to quieten Rose who still seemed unable to stifle her fit of giggles.

"Sorry," she whispered guiltily as she immediately grasped the Doctor's meaning.

"So what's the future like then?" Jackie asked, to the Doctor's surprise full of enthusiasm, Rose recognising that it was inevitable he could not even begin to understand her mother in the same way that she did… Jackie always did like an adventure.

"I'm afraid you'll never know." He grinned cheekily at her.

"What? Don't tell me you're leaving me behind?" She shrieked, a combination of annoyance and undue disappointment clouding her tone, but Rose smiled knowing that the Doctor had absolutely no intention of leaving Jackie behind, especially with Jack left alone in the TARDIS and his knowledge of her reputation.

"Nope." He shook his head playfully in response, getting an almost school boy kick out of her reaction.

"He's only winding you up." Rose spoke at last when she recognised her mother's confused expression and that the Doctor appeared to be having far too much fun messing with Jackie's head to put her mind at rest.

"We haven't travelled to the future." The Doctor explained at last, noticing as Rose shot a warning look in his direction and growing increasingly bored with his game anyway. "And before you say anything," he cut Jackie off almost immediately as he noticed her open her mouth in order to say something, "as I have already explained time does not travel in a straight line… time _is_ being affected by events taking place billions of years in the future, but in order to fix it we have had to travel a few hundred years back in time."

"I don't follow you." Jackie commented, her expression becoming increasingly more bewildered with each new revelation.

"I wouldn't expect you to." The Doctor spoke absent mindedly as he turned his attentions to scribbling a very quick note onto a scrap of paper he had just pulled from his pocket.

"What're you doing?" Rose asked, her curiosity finally getting the better of her.

"Writing Jack a note," and at this his young companion smiled "why don't you and Jackie go and wait outside I'll be with you in a moment, just don't go wondering off anywhere." He continued as he made his way out of the control room.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Jackie asked apprehensively.

"It's safe."

"But how do you know?"

"What year are we in?" Jackie suddenly found herself being drowned out yet again, this time by her own daughter, bright and eager with enthusiasm.

"1739!" Echoed the Doctors final response, before the sound of his heavy footsteps was lost to their ears permanently. Rose, now too used to the type of unpredictable lifestyle the Doctor lead, didn't need convincing twice as she dragged her mother from the TARDIS and into the unknown and foreign environment of the outside world.

As they stepped outside the swinging blue double doors of the time machine Rose's stomach gave an uncomfortable jolt as a combination of external elements and an impulsive feeling of remorse struck her system making her want to retch. The last time she had set foot onto foreign ground Jack had been with them, wounded but essentially healthy, and now he was fighting for his life. Plus the unexpected wretched stench of the atmosphere was almost too much for her gut could stand.

She looked around despondently, as with any new world or time zone the Doctor took her to she had no expectations except from what he told her in advance. But the hot air rippled uncomfortably on her pale skin, her lungs burned with the lacking breeze and it felt as though she was drawing in wisps of dry sand which tore at her throat with each new breath.

"Bloody hell where is everyone?" Jackie suddenly spoke from beside her, and Rose turned abruptly, instantly reminded of her mother's presence, to see that everywhere around them appeared completely devoid of life.

"I don't know." She responded sarcastically, drawing her jacket over her mouth and nose feeling increasingly nauseous, "Maybe they're all safe inside, away from the smell."

The two women seemed to wait an age before the Doctor finally joined them, full of his usual vigour yet still retaining much of his accustomed seriousness. As he stepped outside the TARDIS closing the door behind him he screwed his face up as he inhaled gulps of rancid air into his lungs.

"What's that smell?" he asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me." Rose replied indignantly.

"I've never smelt it before." He spoke after a moment of consideration, "But I'm sure we'll soon find out."

"Where are we going?" Rose asked as they started out in a direction that to her the Doctor appeared to have chosen totally at random.

"To find the source of this virus." He responded as they weaved their way through the deserted streets. All three becoming increasingly anxious as it became even more apparent that it wasn't just the fact that there were only one or two people going about their daily business that made the town appear so empty but nobody appeared to be about. However the true gravity of the situation didn't make itself known until they passed the unnervingly derelict would be market and entered into an area of town that they could only imagine had once housed many people… all to their horror gone now.

"Hang on," Rose said, the dawning feeling of deja-voo creeping up on her as she noticed the state of the houses surrounding them, the sight of the doors hanging limply from their broken hinges and the shattered glass of their windows littering the streets making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, "is it just me or does anybody else feel as though they have been here before?"

"We have… well at least we've been in the same situation…" The Doctor uttered at last, "This is exactly how London appeared when we first arrived there."

Suddenly all three turned as the sound of hurried footsteps behind them met with their ears. As they did so they noticed a tall, slim, rather unkempt looking man in surprisingly futuristic dress running their way. "What do you think you're doing?" He shouted as he approached them, "you need to get out of here now! It's not safe!"

"What do you mean?" The Doctor called back, with unanticipated confidence considering he had never met the man before, but Rose was used to his rather forward nature by now.

"There's no time to explain," The man called out as he rushed past them, "Follow me, quickly!" Rose frowned as she caught a fleeting glimpse of the young man's features, convinced somewhere in the back of her mind that she had seen him before, despite the fact that he sported a rather suspicious looking mask covering his mouth and nose, but these thoughts were promptly brushed from her mind as she found herself following in suit of The Doctor and Jackie, who were both now in hasty pursuit of their new acquaintance. A look of complete shock and terror spread over Jackie's face, although Rose suspected that the Doctor was following more out of curiosity than fear.

Her feet jarred painfully as they met with the dry ground, which crumbled slightly with the impact, although her shoes were only a pair of flimsy slip on's she had found in the back of the TARDIS dressing room. Suddenly the earth gave way from beneath her and to her shock she found herself falling, letting out a small cry of pain as she hit the ground chest first, gasping for breath as her lungs felt as though they had been completely drained of air.

"Rose!" She looked up to see the Doctor running back towards her and smiled. "Are you OK?" He asked as he bent down beside her.

"Yeah." She croaked slightly, still in shock, "Sorry."

"Come on," he said as he helped her to her feet, taking her hand and continuing to run with her like he had on the day they had met, "We can still catch up with them."

"Hang on…" Rose realised after she had partially recovered, yet still a little out of breath as they turned a corner, noticing the outline of a very large, very grand building looming up ahead and guessing that was where they were heading, "when I last looked you were further ahead than my mother, how come you noticed me fall and she didn't?"

"You're forgetting I'm alien Rose," The Doctor explained as he continued to pull her along, "I'm more in tune with people's emotions than you humans are, she's terrified, I doubt she'd even notice if a hungry dinosaur ran by." And at this Rose laughed, the Doctor turning to look at her as she did so. "Feel better?" He asked.

"I do now."

"Fantastic!" He said, a broad grin lighting up his face.

"Hurry up!" They heard Jackie shout nervously and glanced round to see that she and their new acquaintance had already made it inside ahead of them. The Doctor and Rose immediately picked up their pace, running as though their lives depended on it until they finally felt the refreshing shade of an ample entrance hall cool their face and heard the heavy creak of a door being closed behind them. After, Rose and Jackie spent a moment trying to catch their breath, the Doctor standing in a corner watching them with amusement, their new companion appearing equally unperturbed.

"I don't believe you two!" Jackie spoke at last as she looked up, breathing more easily now as she glanced up at their new acquaintance with renewed alarm and suspicion before turning on The Doctor and Rose.

"What?" The Doctor asked with fake innocence and confusion.

"You actually followed him!" She said, aiming a threatening finger in the stranger's direction. "We don't even know him. He could be anyone."

"Well I didn't see you holding back!" The Doctor replied defensively.

"Yes… well… I was following you!" Jackie faltered.

"And anyway." Rose piped up, feeling fairly confident that she had regained much of her composure now, "If somebody runs up to you shouting 'you need to get out of here' and 'it's not safe' in my experience it's wise to heed their warning!"

"Excuse me?" Their new companion spoke up as he removed his mask, making himself known at last, "I'm sorry if I startled you just now… my name's Arnie by the way." He continued as the three turned to look in his direction, "And I think I may have just saved your lives…"

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm a scientist." Arnie explained at last, "Well an aspiring scientist… I work for a man named Krewcow. We're time travellers of a sort, like you."

"How do you know we're time travellers?" Rose asked.

"Well I can tell by your cloths that you're hardly local folk sweetheart." Arnie responded with a knowing smile that made Rose's stomach turn. He may or may not have just saved their lives she concluded but there was something about him she couldn't bring herself to trust. "We're from the year 10billion9thoudand and 97 AD." He continued.

"Wow, that's a mouthful." Jackie smiled as she turned to face each of her companions individually, smiling bewilderedly in an attempt to disguise some of her confusion.

"Then what are you doing here?" The Doctor asked quizzically, almost as in interrogation, ignoring Jackie's brief glance, but he was interrupted as an older, more mature voice echoed up a flight of stairs that until now had gone completely unobserved, followed by the sound of heavy male boots ascending the steps.

"Hello anybody there?"

"I think it's time you met Doctor Krewcow." Arnie smiled before calling down to his mentor, "It's only me, I'm up here!"

At this The Doctor, Rose, and Jackie turned to see another shorter, slightly bigger built man with a grey beard, who appeared to be in his mid-fifties appear before them. He smiled warmly as he approached them, automatically offering the Doctor his hand in greeting as he did so.

"Arrr Arnie, you never told me we were expecting guests." He beamed.

"I found them outside." Arnie spoke with raised eyebrows, a private gesture between the two men, "They couldn't stay there under current circumstances, so I thought it appropriate if I brought them here… They're time travellers like us."

"Really?" Doctor Krewcow's tone reached an all time high as it increased with sudden interest, "Yes well, very good."

"Excuse me." The Doctor, who had been observing the strange couple with some interest until now, piped up. "I'm the Doctor by the way, and this is Rose and Jackie Tyler." He said, indicating the two women, "But would somebody please explain what's going on here?"

"I'm Doctor Krewcow." The older man turned to him invitingly.

"Yes I guessed that." The Doctor responded sarcastically, "But what are you doing here?"

And so it was that Krewcow and his assistant Arnie took it in turns to relate details of their current research back to The Doctor, Rose and Jackie, explaining that a devastating plague was picking off millions in their own time zone, a plague which the Doctor noticed appeared alarming identical to the symptoms exhibited by those afflicted in the 21st century… and which, Doctor Krewcow now explained, appeared to have followed them, devastating the lives of everyone who had once lived in the small town.

"But where are we?" Jackie asked, only realising now that she hadn't the slightest clue where they had actually landed.

"A little place called Darnigton." Krewcow explained, "Though I'm afraid you won't have heard of it. It's not listed in any future records you may have ever read, in theory it never existed… I fear we have already seen to that." He continued, aiming a regretful look at Arnie before an uncomfortable tension settled between the five of them.

"Tell you what Doctor…" Krewcow looked up at last, "you seem like an intelligent sort of man. How about I take you on a tour of my laboratory?"

"Well… I…" The Doctor faltered, "What about Rose and Jackie?"

"Oh don't worry about them," Arnie beamed. "I could take them for a stroll round the town, you know, show them some of the sights?" At this he turned to the two women who both nodded apprehensively in agreement. "Of course we would have to find you a couple of masks first." He added with what Rose perceived to be a cruel grin as The Doctor subtly pulled his young companion aside, sensing her increasing discomfort in the presence of the two men.

"I'm sorry," he whispered "but we've wondered into unfamiliar territory here… even to me. These people are messing with time, and it's up to us to find out how. I really do feel that it's wise to co-operate with them, at least until we know more about them." He explained.

"I'm scared Doctor," Rose replied, "It's strange but I've never felt this way before… even when the danger has been more obvious."

"Just be careful." The Doctor reassured her, squeezing her hand affectionately as he did so just as Krewcow interrupted them.

"Are you coming Doctor?" He asked.

"Yes… yes I'm coming." The Doctor spoke, aiming a final look at Rose before final arrangements were made as it was taken for granted that they would all soon be going off in their own different directions.


	14. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

**Hey all! Well after mixed recieving comments on this chapter I finally decided to go through it and make some changes. As people seemed generally satisfied with the content I have kept this largely the same but have made a few very minor alterations here and there. After reading it through several times I completely sympathised with the trouble some people were having in reading this chapter and after making the changes I have I hope that this makes my writing much easier to understand. I am currently working on Chapter 14 and I hope it won't be too long until it's complete so hopefully I should be updating fairly soon. Thank You all so far!**

Jack awoke groggily from the disturbed sleep the Doctor had managed to settle him down to a few hours earlier. He opened his eyes slowly, recoiling painfully as his head pounded harshly with the pulsating of his heart, which even at a resting position was making his chest heave. He felt a hot pain in his abdomen and his nausea returned with a vengeance, despite the fact that the pain in his hand had grown considerably easier now that the proper bandages had been applied. He swallowed hard as he gently manoeuvred himself into a sitting position, regretting it immediately as he clamped his hand to his mouth, jumping hastily to his feet before darting to the bathroom as he vomited several times into the sink. He doubled over as his stomach churned and cramped in protest against the strain as his throat burned, his body hollow and empty with a sudden hunger that only added to his sickness. Although despite dreading the fact that he would soon have to replace what he had lost from his body over the past few hours he was surprised to find himself craving the rich taste of hot, sweet tea.

The hallway swam in and out of Jack's line of vision as he made his way unsteadily from his bedroom and to the TARDIS kitchen, his movements painfully slow and frustratingly stiff. At one point he stumbled, falling heavily to the floor, knocking himself agonisingly on impact, a look of complete shock frozen on his face as he outstretched his injured left arm to break his fall.

"Doctor?" He called desperately as he found himself unable to stand, suddenly overwhelmed as a devastating impression of vulnerability and desperation washed over him, "Rose?"

He sat in silence for a moment trying to regain his composure, shivering feverishly with a sudden chill as he realised his exposed arms and legs were covered in a sticky dew of sweat. He felt increasingly weak and his skin itched as it dried in the open air of the corridor, his clothes sticking uncomfortably to his body in the process. At the same time the dawning realisation that no-one was coming filled his soul with an unfamiliar dread and fear, before his head began to clear slightly, seeming to give his legs a renewed strength and energy as he steadily got to his feet.

Standing in the hallway a while he pressed himself hard against the cold metallic wall, feeling a subtle heat as it appeared to radiate from the floor and ceiling gradually warming his shattered body. It was as though the TARDIS could sense his sickness as Jack felt as though she was guiding him steadily, preventing him from falling over again as he finally made it to the kitchen, pulling up a chair and resting there for a moment before he eventually felt stable enough to set about making himself the tea.

As he got to his feet he suddenly noticed the note, scribbled in the Doctor's familiar messy scrawl, attached to the inside of the kitchen door. His legs felt like jelly as he made his way over to it, his hand tremmoring slightly as he unpinned the note and began to read:

"_Jack,_

_We have landed in the year 1739 and have gone to investigate the cause of the virus, I am convinced we will find it here. _

_Do not try to follow us, you need to make sure you continue to rest, and that's an order! We will be back in the next few hours and if not you know to expect the worst._

_If this is to be the case don't come after me. I will make sure that Rose and Jackie are safe, find them and take them away from here. The TARDIS will do her best to provide for you until the danger has passed._

_Hope to see you later._

_The Doctor._"

Jack sighed as he folded the note before placing it rather unceremoniously in the back pocket of his pyjama trousers. It was just like the Doctor to accommodate for the worst possible scenario before he even knew what to expect from a situation. Jack hated being ill, he hated having to miss out on the adventure that he knew his three companions were now having, especially Jackie who he realised had never been away with the Doctor before… but as gutted as he was Jack knew deep down that the Doctor was right. He still felt weak, and was exhausted. He only hoped that this was just another example of the Doctor's natural pessimism… he feared that if he had to brave the hostile unknown awaiting him outside the safety and comfort of the TARDIS he would not have strength enough to make it.

Jack searched the cupboards for a sizeable enough mug, before placing a match to the rather ancient looking stove and watching it flare into life. Replacing the kettle he continued to raid the mainly dusty and empty shelves, pulling his hand away disgustedly as he wondered how the Doctor had possibly managed to survive for 900 years on a larder which seemed to consist of only a few crumbs and a carton of stable apple juice. Eventually he placed his hand on a packet of unopened digestive biscuits, smiling half heartedly as he found a rather small blue and purple stripped mug partially concealed at the back of one of the cupboards. He had been initially relieved that the fit that had taken a hold of his frail body over the past few hours had now periodically appeared to pass, but his soul was consumed with despair as just as he took a tight hold on the mug's chunky handle a loud smash met with his ears. Closing his eyes Jack realised immediately what had happened, struggling to bring himself to look upon the mess of broken pottery, sharp shards of blue and purple now littering the kitchen floor. Though in that moment something more worrying plagued Jack's thoughts as to his horror he realised that he could no longer feel his right arm, which had suddenly been struck by a sickening numbing sensation from his shoulder to his fingertips.

"Oh God what's happening to me?" Jack uttered despairingly as he made his way back over to the table, the shrill whistle of the kettle as it finally reached boiling point drowning out the audible crunch of shattered china below his feet, making his skull feel as though it may burst under the pressure of the blood now rushing to his head. Terror took over as he let himself drop back into the seat he had only recently vacated. It took a lot to make Jack cry, but in his current state of privacy uncharacteristic tears began to trickle saltily down his distinctly pale cheeks. "What the hell's happening to me?" he continued to ask himself repeatedly as he began to sob in his emptiness. Only the TARDIS was there to witness Jack's pain, powerless to offer comfort in the Doctor's absence. Her hallways echoed with her despair, and as Jack buried his head hopelessly in his hands he realised the time machines silence said more than anything words could convey, she had the power to see what he could not… and in that moment she grieved for him as though he were already dead.


	15. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

**OK well here it is, Chapter 14 complete just like I promised! I'm sorry it's been a while since my last update, and I hope you enjoy what you read. I haven't really got much more to say, just that as always I hope you enjoy what you read and please don't forget to REVIEW. **

The Doctor eyed Krewcow suspiciously from behind as his new acquaintance lead him further down an ageing and musty spiral staircase. The chipped and ancient stone of the steps was decorated with a slimy green dew, which continued to trickle down the rough and broken stone work of the passage walls, accumulating in a series of sticky puddles of damp at the bottom. Neither of the two men had exchanged a word since the Doctor had left Rose and Jackie under the uneasy guidance of Krewcow's assistant, both seeming to prefer the uncomfortable silence which had now lapsed between them than the idea of initiating any idle conversation. The eccentric manner with which Doctor Krewcow had initially greeted them appeared to have now mysteriously escaped the strange man standing before the Doctor, and he appeared to have retreated into a world of his own. Although whether a world full of troubles, or one full of hope that these apparently dark days could be overcome he could not tell from the blank expression now cloaking Krewcow's face.

As the Doctor kept his gaze keenly focused on their unknown destination ahead, he thought he noticed the older man pause for a moment as he turned to look at him out of the corner of his eye before resuming their journey in silence. Suddenly the pair were plunged into complete darkness as the slippery, although essentially solid stone of the staircase seemed to meet with a fine combination of sand and gravel at the bottom, and to his obvious shock the Doctor, trying and failing to keep his balance, slipped – meeting with the unstable ground harshly as he landed, sprawled painfully upon his back.

As he lay where he was, winded and breathless, he listened intently to every slight sound now going on around him. His senses heightened by his new and unexpected position of vulnerability, before carefully manoeuvring himself into a sitting position as Krewcow struck a match – the passage instantly illuminated by the dancing red and orange flame of the rather ancient looking torch which his new acquaintance was now brandishing.

"My dear boy are you alright?" the old man suddenly exclaimed as he noticed the Doctor seated at the foot of the steps wearing a rather dazed although not unusually alert expression in his face.

"Just a little bruised." The Doctor responded after he had managed to regain much of his customary composure. "Although I doubt my coat will ever be the same again." He continued with sarcasm, if not slightly regretfully, pulling his hand away in disgust as he realised that the whole of his lower torso was now covered in a thick layer of slime as Krewcow helped him to his feet.

"My apologies for my appalling lack of conversation back there." The scientist explained with a smile, "but as you have just witnessed those stairs can be treacherous. If one loses their concentration for even a moment men of mere flesh and bone could plummet to their death with a single misplaced footing." Before continuing almost as in afterthought, "and I'm afraid I am not as young as I used to be."

"Who of us are?" the Doctor asked, his voice suddenly light with humour as he contemplated the irony that a 900 year old Time Lord – _the last of the Time Lords_ – should be referred to as a mere "boy" by a complete stranger.

The two continued carefully down the passage, their journey much steadier now that the ground beneath them had levelled out - the light of the torch Krewcow persistently ensured never went out guiding their way. Both exchanged brief utterances out of politeness, allowing the ice to break gradually as each remained silently cautious of the other before Krewcow finally turned the conversation to more pressing matters.

"So then Doctor… Doctor who?" He turned suddenly.

"Just Doctor." The Doctor explained passively. He was too used to having to explain himself to people who did not seem to understand when he failed to provide them with an adequate second name… plus this was the second time in a matter of hours that he had been questioned on the contents of his birth certificate and things were becoming a little tedious.

"What exactly are you a doctor of?" the older man persisted with interest, a renewed element of his previous enthusiasm becoming evident.

"Oh I dabble." The Doctor responded. "Call it the science of life… but tell me about your own work." He insisted.

"I come from a world where science has become a major part of my people's lives." Krewcow explained despondently. "In a time where anyone considered to be of any worth is a scientist, and all that matters is the money to be made out of it my work is of little significance."

"I would be interested to find out more." The Doctor pressed.

At this Krewcow stopped abruptly and turned to face his apparently unfazed companion. "I am a doctor," he spoke, "I see sickness and I aim to cure it, to eradicate the suffering of my people! Of what worth is money to me when the only payment I seek is the happiness and health of my patients? What then becomes of me if those patients happen to die?"

At this the Doctor gave him a quizzical look urging him to continue. Krewcow's gaze met with his own for a moment, and in that instant the Doctor could see that behind the cheerful exterior Krewcow liked to show off to the world was a soul tortured by the pain and grief of the community he had left behind.

"As you know Doctor my people are dying." The scientist responded at last. "I myself am a firm believer that you can't look to the future of medical science without first exploring its past. Therefore I opted to take this very hands on approach in my research to find the cure… and I must admit that the whole experience has been very eye opening for me."

"And Arnie?" the Doctor asked.

"What about him?"

"Does he share your belief? Or does he harbour his own approach to the subject?"

"I met Arnie just over a year ago," Krewcow explained. "at a time when much of my research was trivial and many of my experiments became to much for me to handle by myself. I advertised for the position of an assistant… but you have to understand that in the world where I come from there is very little money to be made by assisting and not being the most revolutionary of scientists myself I had very little to offer. There were a few who enquired about the position but as I expected it stimulated very little interest… and then Arnie came along."

The Doctor listened attentively as Krewcow continued.

"I must admit that I have always suspected that Arnie is more influenced by the money than eradicating human suffering but he has served me well this past year. The truth is he simply doesn't have what it takes to set up in practice alone… willing, bright, but unfortunately for him not bright enough… what about you Doctor? Do you have anyone?"

"Well there's Rose." The Doctor smiled affectionately. "She's my number two." He joked, recalling the very first time he had taken her travelling in the TARDIS… to the very end of the earth.

"She's very pretty." Krewcow commented returning his gesture. "The embodiment of innocence."

"Yes." The Doctor faltered at this, the broad grin now spread across his face wavering as he thought of everything they had been through together. "But the things she has seen… some of them she should never have had to witness."

"Who was the other woman with you?" Krewcow asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Her mother." The Doctor responded curtly as he rolled his eyes disapprovingly.

"Oh… I see." Krewcow hesitated. "We'd better press on." He insisted at last as he watched the flame of the torch he was still holding gradually begin to dwindle as darkness started to reclaim much of the passage which only moments before had been bathed with golden light. "Not far to go now."

"And then there's Jack…" The Doctor uttered regretfully under his breath.

"Sorry?" Krewcow turned to him.

"I don't make a habit of travelling with my companion's mother." The Doctor spoke suddenly, the defensive tone in his voice masking the fact that in his opinion he had already said too much. "Rose and I have a little… urgh… business here." He continued. "Her mother wasn't always meant to be part of the package… but… well… I don't do families myself, but she means a lot to Rose."

"Say no more." Krewcow interrupted him sympathetically. "I completely understand… but Doctor, somehow I think Rose may turn out to be a little tougher than you give her credit for."

"Yes… I'm beginning to find that out the hard way." He beamed before suddenly realising to his discomfort that Krewcow had stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's the matter?" He asked as he began to investigate the area cautiously for any sign of threat.

"Nothing." Krewcow said, turning to him with a warm smile as he registered the reaction on the Doctor's face. "We're here." And as Krewcow stepped aside the Doctor was finally free to observe the large oak door that now stood before them. It's hinges were rusty from overuse and age but the wood itself appeared to be in immaculate condition and had even received a newly applied coat of sweet scented varnish which the Doctor was sure was not part of the original design of the door. "I like to keep the entrance to my laboratory presentable and in good working order." Krewcow explained with pride as he gleamed with self importance. "Welcome to my world Doctor…"

**OK well I know there wasn't a lot of action going on in this chapter but I am leading up to something big with this so please bare with me! I hope you enjoyed what you read. I tried to capture something of the Doctor's feeling for Rose and Jack here... all be it briefly, and I don't know quite how successful I was. But as I said before please please please don't forget to REVIEW!**


	16. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

**OK well to make up for all the times that I have gone for ages without an update on this story I have updated a lot sooner than I expected this time. Thanks for baring with me with this story, be asured that I think it will all be worth it in the end as I am totally on the ball with where I am going with this story! I hope you enjoy what you read... as usual, and please don't forget to REVIEW!**

"Beautiful isn't it?" Arnie asked as he turned approvingly to the two women now in his charge. After taking both Rose and Jackie on a brief tour of the immediate location he had directed their wavering attentions to the ageing focal point of the soon to be extinct market town – a proud standing and magnificently built watch tower. It's beauty captured Rose's attention immediately as she began to consider all the strange and unusual places the Doctor had already taken her, wondering how it was possible that one of the most impressive examples of hand crafted architecture she had ever seen could be found so close to home.

"Magnificent!" she muttered to herself in response, gazing down at the landscape dotted with timber and brick houses, their thatched roofs rustling silently in the gentle breeze as it lightly caressed Rose's pink cheeks. The comparison between this sleepy 18th century town and a small toy village she remembered her grandfather giving her one Christmas as a young child was uncanny. From up here there was certainly no evidence of the devastation which had recently ripped through a once flourishing population and Rose hadn't needed convincing twice at Arnie's offer to view the rest of the town from the serenity of the watch tower balcony.

Jackie had kept her distance initially. Standing back to view the horizon, carpeted with a lush green as it quickly became apparent that the village boarder remained unscathed by human habitation – it's vast fields and dense forests untouched. But now this once bustling town was as silent as the countryside surrounding it, and the stillness of the atmosphere filled the two women's hearts with an unimaginable horror.

"Tell us more about Krewcow." Jackie turned to Arnie at last, her confidence in their guide now fully established. "He seems a decent man. Does he treat you well?"

"Most of the time." Arnie faltered, nodding his head hesitantly before responding, turning to face Jackie before quickly turning away.

"What do you mean most of the time?" Rose asked, suddenly concerned.

"Well he has his bad days like everybody else." Arnie explained, "Being an assistant to a great mind such as Krewcow's can be a rewarding position… but it does put you directly in the firing line of his frustrations." He continued despondently.

"Tell me about it!" Rose scoffed as she thought of her relationship with the Doctor.

"The truth is, I consider myself very lucky to have found such a good mentor in Krewcow." Arnie spoke as he returned to gaze out longingly at the looming horizon. "I've learnt so much from him this past year… I think I may even know enough now to set up my own practice soon."

"Your own practice?" Jackie enquired with interest, cutting in.

"It's always been my dream." Arnie turned to her, his eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. "Krewcow is a good man, an intelligent man." He reinforced, "but he's too impulsive."

"Impulsive?" Rose frowned.

"Too easily taken in by people." Arnie explained. "In my world there's no money to be made through idle generosity. Only the other month I caught him showing a young medical student around his laboratory… he'd given him some sob story about him being turned down by the local medical schools for being too poor to pay the tuition fees."

"And that's a problem?" Rose questioned.

"Don't get me wrong." Arnie's tone became softer as it suddenly decreased in volume, "One thing that you need to understand Rose is that I come from a world no harsher or crueller than anywhere else. It's just that science has become a very competitive pursuit – just as sport and performing arts were in the 1900's right through to the second millennium… I presume that is where you're from, isn't it?" The question was unexpected, catching the two women off guard.

"How did you know?" Rose asked, her tone terse with renewed suspicion as she screwed up her face in a guarded frown.

"I can tell you're new to all this time travelling business." He smiled in response. "I've always dreamed of time travel myself but until now have never been given the chance… I studied comprehensive history as a second subject at college." He revealed after a brief pause. "But tell me, how did you come to be here?"

Rose swallowed hard as she began to feel a lump form and harden in her throat. Her eyes filling with suppressed tears as she found herself unable to contain her anguish any longer, "It was a mistake." She chocked as the days events came flooding back to her. "You see there are there clones." She explained, "Something's gone wrong with the time vortex."

Suddenly Arnie paled, reaching out to touch Rose's quaking shoulder before seeming to reconsider, muttering something inaudible under his breath as he abruptly pulled away. "You know you really are beautiful." He whispered.

Rose sniffed as she dried her damp eyes on her jacket sleeve, smiling wearily at his flattery.

"I could show you so much." He continued, his tone intimate as he affectionately took Rose's soft hands in his own, gently caressing her icy fingers.

"So much of what?" She asked, gazing at him intensely with sudden alarm at his suggestion.

"My world." He clarified. "There's so much more to see Rose, so much more of life to experience, if only you would come with me."

"No!" Jackie suddenly snapped. "She did that to me once! She ran off with a complete stranger, a man that she barley even knew, to fight aliens on other planets! I heard nothing off her after that until she suddenly turned up in my living room a year later. She didn't even tell me she was leaving, just up'd and left… she could have been dead!"

At this Rose was disturbed to see tears welling up in her mother's eyes as she spoke. Jackie had been through hell in the year proceeding Rose's departure and her daughter now realised that despite being forgiven the pain was still very much a part of her for as long as Rose continued to travel with the Doctor.

"I'm sorry mum." Rose spoke softly as she wrapped her arms comfortingly around Jackie.

"It's OK sweetheart." Her mother smiled, "The Doctor's a good man… I know that now. I won't lie and say I trust the lifestyle you both lead because I don't, but I know he has you're best interests at heart and I trust that he will always do his best to protect you… but you can't do that to me again, please promise me you won't Rose!"

"I promise!" Rose's voice came out hoarse and strangled as she whispered the words sincerely into Jackie's ear, pulling her mother closer to her as she did so until they were both engaged in a warm and tight embrace.

"I'm sorry." Arnie muttered wistfully as they pulled away, "I wasn't thinking. Forget what I said… it must be nice to have someone who cares for you as much as your mother obviously does." He said as he turned back to Rose.

"What about your family?" She asked sympathetically as she saw his facial features suddenly contort and fix into a pained expression.

"I have no-one close." He revealed hopelessly, his speech becoming harsh as he glanced enviously at the two women now standing before him.

"You have Krewcow." Jackie pointed out.

"I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest with you about my mentor." Arnie faltered before stopping abruptly in his tracks, seeming to become overwhelmed by an apparent sense of shame.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"He's been good to me." Arnie stressed. "He took me in when no-one else would, gave me the chance to live the life I'd always dreamed of leading… but there are things about him no-one knows. He's not the man people think he is!"

"What are you getting at? I don't understand!" Rose demanded answers from the young man with a new sense of urgency. What could he mean by there were things about Krewcow that nobody knew? What sort of things? The Doctor had seemed to trust the old man enough to go with him alone… but then it always had been the Doctors way to check out any potential danger first before getting Rose involved.

"He doesn't want anybody to know." Arnie explained with vague detail. "But I can't keep something like this to myself any longer Rose. It's driving me mad… It's about what you were saying earlier about the time vortex… I'm afraid I already knew!"

"You knew?" Rose looked shocked.

At this the young assistant's speech became strained. He struggled to get the words to flow more freely from his lips, but obvious fear and an evident impression of disloyalty made it hard for him to get his words out.

"Yes I knew…" He continued with substantial difficulty. "And I'm afraid that once I've told you this you can't remain here… we're all in terrible danger! I knew… I knew… because… Doctor Krewcow is the one making the clones!"


	17. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

**Yay I finally managed to update! Please REVIEW. I enjoy writing this story so much and love to hear what you think of my work! Sorry it's been a while, I've become rather bogged down with work lately and I have so many stories that I'm working on so it's taking a while. I hope to update again as soon as possible and as I work in a school I get half term off aswell which means I have the rest of this week to get up to date with my writing! Enjoy!**

"This is remarkable." The Doctor stated excitedly as he carefully examined the magnificent array of viles, test tubes and immaculately labelled jars decorating every available surface of Krewcow's cramped yet essentially adequate laboratory. "You must have enough artefacts here to fully categorize the entire evolutionary cycle of earthly medicine through the ages."

"Mere trophies Doctor." Krewcow responded with a smile and a casual wave of his hand as he observed the Time Lord wearily from the other side of the room. "The last remaining remnants of a lifetime of research, and precious little to show for it." he continued despondently as he made his way slowly over. The two had just completed a brief tour of the small workroom, the Doctor subtly quizzing Krewcow about his research – now fully confident in the presence of his new acquaintance, although still not entirely sure where he stood with the ageing yet apparently not ungenerous scientist.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor frowned questioningly as he aimed an attentive stare in Krewcow's direction, a curious gleam in his eye.

"One thing that you need to understand Doctor is that I am by no means a rich man." Krewcow explained. "I must confess that even as a young apprentice during my last year of medical school I had not the drive nor the ambition to make the kind of money reserved only for the most revolutionary of scientists."

"And now?" The Doctor asked.

"Science has and always will play a major role in my life." Krewcow continued. "But, and forgive me for sounding clichéd here Doctor, all good things must come to an end, and I fear my work is almost complete. I came here in the hope of doing some good for my people… instead my endeavour has brought about the destruction of an entire community. I can't possibly allow myself to continue with the knowledge of what I have done."

"Then you _are_ behind everything that's been going on here!" The Doctor suddenly interjected.

"Not through choice or malicious intent Doctor." Krewcow replied, his tone reflecting all the guilty torment of a man torn by grief. "Although I suspect that you always assumed it was so. I thought my research was safe… But I cannot expect you to understand."

An eerie silence suddenly elapsed between them as Krewcow's words tore through the Doctor like a serrated blade to his soul. "I understand more than you know." He responded at last, his tone reflective as haunting memories of his past – darker than anyone could comprehend – came flooding back to him, before the sound of a door slamming in the distance shocked them both back to reality.

_"Rose, please slow down sweetheart… you don't even know where_ _you're going!"_ Suddenly Jackie's voice echoed through the hollow passageway, followed by the heavy sound of frantic footsteps on the soft gravel outside, making the Doctor turn away from Krewcow in an instant – raw instinct diverting his full attention to the chaos that had abruptly erupted on the other side of the door. 

"_He's still here I know he is."_ The Doctor's heart froze as he heard Rose's desperate tone in response to her mother's pointless protests. _"He wouldn't just leave… we have to find them."_

_"But it may not be safe…"_ Jackie continued, before, realising her words were fruitless, she suddenly fell silent. 

The Doctor aimed a suspicious glance in Krewcow's direction. "Rose!" He called out after a moment as, unaware of the cause of her obvious distress, he found himself powerless to offer comfort. "Rose!"

"_Doctor?"_ She replied, failing to keep the relief out of her voice. _"Where are you?"_

"Hang on dear, I'll get the door." Krewcow suddenly spoke, cutting the Doctor off as he was about to respond. The rusting lock had been left ajar as the two had made their way slowly around the small, dimly lit laboratory – The Doctor taking in his companions every word with cautious curiosity. Though now it soon became apparent that the decaying hinges had set firmly into place and it took all the ageing scientist's strength to finally prise the door open. Eventually it's ancient frame shifted, with a screech of decaying metal and well worn wood as Rose suddenly appeared through the now spacious doorway, closely followed by Jackie.

"What's going on?" The Doctor asked, a confused expression shrouding his now concerned features.

"I thought I may have lost you." Rose explained, making her way over to embrace him as her mother struggled to catch her breath.

"My dear are you alright?" Krewcow asked as he observed the look of genuine fear in the young woman's eyes. "What happened? Where's Arnie?"

"I'm right here sir!" Suddenly all four turned to the appeasing sound of the fifth man's tone as he entered the room – the young assistant's silhouette highlighted by the gothic style of the torchlight illuminating the passage outside as he leaned heavily against the doorframe.

"Arnie?" The bemused scientist continued, "Tell me what happened! What have you done?"

"Only what I should have done a long time ago." Arnie continued regretfully. "I'm sorry doctor, I told them everything… I couldn't see that I had any other choice."

"I… I don't understand." Krewcow faltered, a questioning frown etched into his brow as the gravity of his assistant's words finally began to register with him. "Told them what?"

"That you're the one blowing holes in the time vortex!" Rose suddenly spoke out in anger from where she now stood by the Doctor's side, pointing accusingly in Krewcow's direction. "You're the one who's been making the clones!"

With this Krewcow froze, his face distorted mockingly as he observed the rather unlikely group of people now standing before him. "Clones?" He spoke at last, as he tried but failed to stifle an uneasy bout of nervous laughter. "Well how twenty-first century. Is this somebody's bizarre idea of a joke?"

"This is no joke!" Rose growled. "People have died because of you!"

"I know… and for that I regret that I ever came to this place." He continued remorsefully.

Suddenly Arnie lunged at Krewcow from a distance knocking his mentor heavily to the ground. The two men's limbs became entwined for a moment as both fought to regain control over the other, their writhing forms at the Doctor's feet providing a strange resemblance to a pair of wild animals locked in an arduous battle of wills.

"Arnie I thought you were on my side!" Krewcow gave a strangled cry of shock and betrayal as he struggled to free himself from his assistant's vice-like grasp.

"I've never been on your side doctor." Arnie replied, "I just did as you requested, laid low, never did anything to get in the way of you and your research… well all that ends here… I can't carry on with this charade any longer… things have gone too far!"

Krewcow sighed despairingly as he managed to free his wrist from where Arnie had it pinned painfully behind his back. "I'm sorry you feel that way my boy." He spoke at last as he gently slid his hand inside his jacket pocket, "I'm sorry for everything." But it was too late for Arnie, his face contorting in fear as he realised what was coming next… screwing his eyes tightly shut to the sound of the cacophonous gunshot echoing through the room, before… nothing.

…Nothing!

As Arnie slowly opened his eyes the motionless form of Doctor Krewcow lay at his feet, shards of crystal glass decorating the floor surrounding his lifeless body as Rose leaned cautiously over him. The fragmented remains of a single shattered jar still remained clutched tightly in her hand.

"What happened?" Arnie asked.

"I… I thought he was going to kill you!" Rose explained, her tone faltering as both the Doctor and Jackie looked on in disbelief. "I just grabbed the first solid thing I could find."

At this the young assistant carefully bent down beside the unconscious body of his now disarmed mentor, pausing to stare regretfully into his dormant expression for a moment before placing two fingers to the exposed flesh on the right side of Krewcow's jugular in his bid to locate a pulse.

"Is he dead?" Rose asked at last.

"No." Arnie revealed after a moment, sighing with relief as the words caught in his throat. "Just knocked out." He explained, aiming an appreciative smile in the young woman's direction. "Thank You."

"At least you're safe now." Rose commented, returning his gesture affectionately as Arnie helped her to her feet before turning away.

"Yes… I may be… but it is for your lives I now fear." He spoke.

"What do you mean?" Jackie asked, slightly startled.

"I'm sorry I have to do this." He continued. "But I'm afraid you know too much."

"Do what?"

But as the young assistant turned back to face them the gravity of their situation became all too apparent as their attentions were drawn to the surprisingly modern looking gun now held tightly in the young man's fist.

"You know you really have been foolish!" He gloated mockingly as with calculated precision he raised the small firearm to eye level… training the gun upon all three of them.

**...next chapter sees the return of Captain Jack! YAY!**


	18. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

"Arnie what are you doing?" Rose asked at last, her petrified gaze still firmly fixed upon the loaded gun she suddenly found being purposefully aimed in their direction as she struggled desperately to force the words from between her lips.

"Only what needs to be done my dear." The young assistant responded mockingly, adopting a tone similar to that of his now somewhat incapacitated mentor, a taunting grin merging with his previously reserved features as he continued. "It's been sweet whilst it lasted, I actually once thought I might have been able to get away with it without having to resort to this." He explained. "But I'm afraid you know too much… you should have left well alone Doctor."

"Know too much about what?" Jackie suddenly faltered incredulously, her fear barely obvious through her prominent frustration as she glanced around at both Rose then the Doctor in turn.

"My dear I sensed from the moment I met you that you were only along as a guest of your two companions… a mere amateur among experts whose entire lives evolve around encounters of this kind." Arnie sneered mockingly. "Alone you would have posed no threat to my research, but it was the influence of your associates which I most feared, and I'm afraid that a lone ranger would never have made it this far in a world where their presence was quite so obviously forced, without being under the shadow of a higher knowledge."

"Now you're just being insulting." Jackie scoffed forcefully in response.

Arnie smiled simply, "You think so yet you don't even know me." He continued, shrugging his shoulders dismissively. "You don't know what this means to me… what this means to my people. You see you had it half right Doctor." He added, turning to glance adamantly in the direction of the determined Time Lord. "Krewcow genuinely believed that it was he who was responsible for this small communities destruction, it was me who convinced him of that. But I needed them to help me complete my research, more people than I could possibly lay my hands on, or so it turned out, without arousing the suspicions of my learned mentor."

"And why wait to kill us now?" The Doctor asked arrogantly as he eyed Arnie suspiciously with renewed distain. "Why risk us uncovering information which could potentially jeopardise the entire future of your scientific research when you could have left us out there to die of 'natural causes'?"

"Because no good scientist makes a rushed decision without being completely assured of a particular scenario's outcome one way or another first." The young assistant responded maliciously, still keeping his small handgun steadily trained upon all three of them. "And I have plans for you." He continued after a pause. "I'm afraid that you three are going to be my very last guinea-pigs."

"We're not your meat!" The Doctor suddenly snapped, instinctively placing himself in Arnie's direct path of contact with his two female companions as he noticed Rose's facial expression dissolve into one of acid for a moment as she aimed an abhorrent glare in Arnie's direction, before the Doctor finally felt able to continue. "We're not mindless puppets with strings attached ready to bow to your every command, if you want us your going to have to fight us for that right first… but I'm telling you now I'm not going to make it easy for you."

Arnie laughed. "You underestimate me Doctor." He grinned contemptuously. "You're forgetting that I've already wiped out an entire community almost single handedly and with Krewcow soon to be out of the picture I have no reservations in confessing to you that this is only the tip of the iceberg. My research is almost complete… soon I will be free to relinquish my role as the all worshiping, ever obliging and obedient assistant and, with the knowledge that I have obtained, set up my own practice… soon to become the famed and successful doctor that I have always aspired to be."

"But how have you managed to evade discovery for so long?" Rose asked distrustfully, "Surely Krewcow suspected something?"

"As I have already explained," Arnie scoffed, "Krewcow was so senile that I managed to convince him that he was the one responsible for the spate of mysterious deaths with ease. After that the old fool wouldn't have noticed even if I had carried out my experiments right under his nose, but still I was clever and made sure that my work was done in secret."

The Doctor and Rose remained unmoving as Arnie continued assuredly whilst Jackie shifted nervously where she stood, her feet scarcely remaining rooted to the spot for more than a moment.

"I released thousands of mind degenerative microbes into the atmosphere to research brain degeneration." He explained after a moment. " Others I dispatched by the caseload in the forum of a cerium throughout time. Of those who received the medication a few carefully selected doctors were in on my research, but most were mindless pawns using the drug as a low strength local anaesthetic because as the microbes slowly made their way towards the brain it would have the same short-term effects, cutting the connection between the brain's naturally developing neuro-transmitters and the cerium's point of injection."

At this Arnie paused for an instant to observe the resentful reactions of his three new acquaintances before continuing.

"Of course good fortune never lasts long. The fragile human bodies of my subjects couldn't cope with the long-term effects of the drug. Before long people began to surcome, more people than was generally considered coincidental, and the authorities suspicions were aroused. It was then that I came up with the idea of creating the clones in order to continue with my research undetected, and turned my attentions to twenty-first century London. Their unhealthy fixation with the media and influences such as television and radio provided the perfect medium for the story of my _plague_ to sufficiently spread, although the human race had still not evolved the intelligence to realise the full extent of the situation."

"But if you were here with Krewcow the whole time how were you able to fully observe the progress of your sick charade?" It was the Doctor's turn to interrupt.

"On the contrary Doctor I did much of the dirty work myself." Arnie explained. "I posed as various officials in order to scare the human race into eventual hiding. It was in the best interests of science to contain the infection in the smallest and most populated radius in order to ensure it's rapid spread and the cerium's maximum effectiveness."

'_Hundreds of people were discovered on the same morning faces contorted with looks of surprise and pain, their brains jellified. Special safety houses have been set up all over the city but I doubt it will do much good.'_

Suddenly a startling revelation struck Rose as she immediately began to recall the strange words of the suspicious police officer who had approached them in her mother's flat the equivalent of a few mornings ago, her face contorting in instant realisation as she recalled her immediate recognition of the hateful young assistant throughout their first meeting during what had literally only been hours ago.

"You were the officer who approached us back at the flats." She suddenly hissed accusingly.

"Yes, I was." Arnie responded simply, momentarily aiming a malicious smile in her direction before calmly turning away, his attentions suddenly diverted towards Krewcow's prostrate form lying at his feet as the old scientist instantly stirred as he came round – starring confusedly around at the scene of destruction which met with his eyes as he struggled to recall everything that had just happened.

"I'm glad you could rejoin us." Arnie spoke sarcastically as he observed his mentor with a disturbing sense of control.

"Just take your time Krewcow." The Doctor advised as the man before them immediately began to force himself into a sitting position. "You've had a nasty knock to the head."

"What happened?" Krewcow asked, muttering incoherently as he continued to survey the scene before him. Arnie completely ignoring his mentor's bemused questioning, obliterating any chance of a response as he continued.

"You're just in time to witness the destruction of our _new friends_… before your own regretful sacrifice shall finally set me free."

Immediately he cocked the gun ready to fire when abruptly he froze, his face contorting with a look of complete pain and shock. All four hostages remained rooted to the spot as they wondered what could have possibly happened to the young man standing before them – his face pale, the silent rise and fall of his ribcage the only indication that there was any sign of life in his otherwise static body. When suddenly he fell, revealing the appearance of a second man behind him, sonic blaster held triumphantly in the air as shaky arms supported it's heavy form – the timely figure of Captain Jack standing expectantly before them, before he collapsed weakly to the floor The sonic blaster shattering into a collection of scattered, tiny fragments in front of him as he failed to protect it from the impact which ensued.


	19. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

**Well as you can see I have made a real effort to update a lot sooner than previously. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I have really enjoyed writing it with Jack being back now and him being my favourite character. I have kinda missed writing for him over the past few chapters.**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: I have made a few alterations to Chapter 17 of this story, especially the concluding cliffhanger so in order to understand the events of the first part of this chapter you will probably need to click back and read the final lines of the previous chapter. It's not so different and so won't take much extra reading, but it probably will avoid much confusion. Thank You.**

**PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW.**

"Jack!" Rose immediately exclaimed as she and the Doctor rushed to his side, each scooping him up under the arms in an instant as they assisted him into a standing position.

"I'm fine honestly." He was quick to reassure them as he registered the immediate concern on each of their faces in turn before continuing. "Well don't I get a hug?" He asked with a mischievous grin on his face, eyeing both the Doctor and Rose expectantly before Rose abruptly pulled him into a warm and affectionate embrace.

"Fantastic timing." The Doctor patted Jack approvingly on the shoulder as Rose eventually released him, an unmistakable gleam of momentary contentment and disguised relief in his eyes to see the figure of his obviously ailing companion before him when only moments ago they had all been unsure whether they would ever see him again.

"Come here." Jackie suddenly smiled, wrapping her arms appreciatively around Jack's shoulders as she approached, before kissing him delicately on the cheek. Although her look still conveyed her fear that he may again collapse in her arms as her embrace lasted only a moment, before gently she withdrew stepping back to allow Jack some time to himself and the opportunity to observe the slumped form of the fourth man for the first time since he had initially entered the small room.

"Well I must say you certainly know how to make an entrance my dear boy." Krewcow beamed heartily from where he continued to sit, still somewhat absent-mindedly in the corner of the room. Unmoving from the moment that he had first regained consciousness.

"We don't have much time though I'm afraid." Jack explained. "I would ask you all for a full account of everything that's been going on in my absence but the stunner's effects are not permanent unfortunately. He'll be waking up soon."

"But how did you know where to find us?" Rose asked.

"I did a scan for the Doctor's alien DNA on my wristwatch." He replied. "It's not so different from your own rather simpler molecular structure but it is often much easier to detect. I must admit that the signal was somewhat weakened though by your being underground. It took me a while to find you."

"You can do that?" Rose responded with masked surprise as Jack nodded his acknowledgment of her question, before everybody abruptly turned to the unsettling sounds suddenly emanating from the unconscious form of Arnie who had began to stir in the corner.

"We'd better get going." Jack immediately informed them, their need for haste urgently conveyed within his voice. "We have only minutes before he regains consciousness, and we really shouldn't still be around when he wakes up. As you can see the sonic blaster's going to be completely useless to us from now on I'm afraid."

"Krewcow." The Doctor immediately said, turning to the ageing scientist as he struggled to drag himself from his current sitting position in the corner of the room into a more upright angle. "If Jack leads on with Jackie and Rose you and I could remain behind for a few moments. I may be able to buy as a little more time but I'm going to need some help if our escape is to be a successful one. I'm afraid that once he realises we are gone we won't have the element of a head start on our side for long." He explained, indicating the location of the sonic screwdriver carefully concealed within his left side pocket before continuing. "And you know the lay of the land better than anybody else here. Our passage is likely to be much swifter with your valuable input to keep us on track…"

"No." Krewcow suddenly interjected, cutting the Doctor off in mid flow. "I'm sorry Doctor but you're going to have to make it on your own from here I'm sorry to say. I can do more to assist your escape than even you know, but I won't be coming with you I'm afraid."

"But… you must!" Rose immediately exclaimed. "Where else will you go? What will you do?"

"My dear." Krewcow aimed a benevolent smile in her direction. "My work here has already come to an end. I have failed in my mission to bring an end to the suffering of my own people, but I still have one last thing left to offer. I cannot risk another incident like this happening again, otherwise more innocent lives are sure to be lost."

"But what about Arnie?" Jackie asked somewhat apprehensively, suddenly breaking her prolonged stance of silence in the hurry of the moment, in her haste not to leave without having her own questions answered first.

"I'll take care of him, don't worry." Krewcow assured her, "Nobody need ever concern themselves with him again."

"Then I guess this is goodbye." The Doctor spoke, offering his hand out somewhat solemnly to the figure of the visually older man standing before him. A dawning look of mutual understanding crossed his face for an instant as the two men's eyes met in the dwindling light of the room, but it was lost to everybody else present.

"Well I must say that it has been good to meet someone so interesting as yourself and your companions Doctor." Krewcow spoke heartily as he accepted the Doctor's outstretched had warmly. "That in itself has made my life up until this point worth while, if nothing else has. I wish you nothing but good luck for the future."

"As we do you." The Doctor smiled, before the small group abruptly turned to the sound as Arnie suddenly continued to stir, more violently this time.

"You'd better get going." Krewcow informed them. "You don't have long." Before adding more quietly to the Doctor, "I'll give you as long as I possibly can."

Suddenly the Doctor turned as a gentle hand touched him lightly on the shoulder and Rose met his gaze as he realised that the other two were already edging towards the door. Her eyes looked vaguely alarmed as though she had just overheard what had been said, but he chose to ignore this just for the moment, as, with one last fleeting look at Krewcow he made for the door with Rose in tow.

"What did he mean he'd give us as long as he possibly could?" Rose finally asked as they made their way along the cold and draughty passage after the strange warmth and comfort of the small, concealed laboratory.

"You weren't supposed to hear that." The Doctor whispered regretfully to her in response.

"But what did he mean Doctor?" She persisted.

But this time the Doctor didn't reply, he just kept on running, taking her hand gently in his own as he did so.

…

Meanwhile the ageing scientist set about shattering the vast array of chemical vials and test tubes which aligned the numerous shelves and table tops surrounding the room, now an empty and meaningless monument to his life's work. His throat began to burn with the fumes of some of the more potent chemicals as they began to escape into the now almost intoxicating atmosphere, but still he never took his eyes off the still unconscious form of Arnie. As he struck a match he watched the bright yellow flame dancing before him for a moment, his last seconds on earth spent dwelling on the events of the past few hours. Before, as a searing pain struck the tips of his fingers, the flame burning away at the top layers of his skin, he released it from his grasp – his eardrums immediately reverberating with the velocity of the explosion, his back aching as he was thrown to the floor and his lungs swelling from the heat of the air which he now found himself breathing in before finally and to his unspoken relief and gratitude everything went black.

…

The Doctor and his three companions only just made it outside before they were suddenly thrown to their ground with the force of the explosion. They lay there for a moment in shock, the unnatural heat of the air against the backs of their necks, grief consuming their souls as the gravity of the situation suddenly began to sink in – Krewcow had killed his assistant, sacrificing himself in the process in order to secure the safe future of the world.

Suddenly the Doctor froze, his senses immediately heightened as he pulled himself to his feet.

"What is it?" Rose asked, tears glistening in her eyes as they stained her pale cheeks.

"We need to get out of here." The Doctor informed them all, a renewed sense of urgency conveyed within his voice, filling them all with alarm. "We're not out of danger yet, the air all around here is contaminated. We need to get back to the TARDIS."

"What do you mean contaminated?" Jack asked. "With what?" But as the Doctor noticed that his young friend already appeared somewhat light-headed, remembering with horror what Arnie had revealed to them about the true nature of his research and how ill Jack had become after receiving the dose of local anaesthetic earlier in the day he realised that they didn't have much time.

"There's no time to explain, just follow me." He instructed the small group as he made off into the night and descending fog. Rose and Jackie followed immediately as Jack trailed along behind – not realising that as he increased his pace in his attempts to keep up he was in that moment in fact running for his life.


	20. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19**

**Well I've finally got round to updating again! Thanks for all your support and possitive reviews so far, I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying the story! I appologise again for my slow updating, just stick with it, there's not that much more left to come now which feels kinda wierd as I have been working on this story for close to a year now!**

**As usual enjoy, and please REVIEW!**

It seemed as though the small group had been running forever with little or no hope of any imminent salvation before the Doctor finally noticed the TARDIS looming ahead of him as its hazy silhouette suddenly appeared from out of the mist surrounding them. Jackie had exchanged places with Rose, keeping slightly ahead of the Doctor, her daughter having gown increasingly concerned about Jack's inability to keep up with his pace and her mum's unfamiliarity with the dangers of the unpredictable lifestyle which she was now a part of. Rose had felt that the Doctor may be at a slight advantage in taking care of Jackie with Jack in his currently weakened state, and, glancing back momentarily, the Doctor could now see the two following closely behind. In an instant he immediately increased his pace from a purposeful sprint to an all out run, throwing the TARDIS's blue double doors open as he approached and shoving Jackie rather unceremoniously inside as she came within a graspable distance. Failing to notice however that his sudden increase of speed had proven rather too much for Jack as he was soon lost from sight, along with Rose, who had loyally refused to leave him

"What was that for?" Jackie immediately protested as she picked herself up from the control room's metallic floor for the second time that day. Giving the Doctor a firey glare as she did so.

"Saving your life." He responded impatiently, returning her gesture with equal frustration before turning his back on her as he made his way over to the main controls, intent on setting their direct flight path away from there. But Jackie, all the confusion and resentment of the past few hours still bubbling within her refused to be silenced that easily.

"For your information Doctor I'm quite capable of taking care of myself without you manhandling me." She continued angrily. "You could have given me a warning, and don't think that just because you're eight hundred years older than the rest of us you can turn up anywhere and take over. I raised Rose quite successfully before you came along… you know, I don't know what she sees in you if you go around doing that to people all the time."

"Make that nine hundred years old." The Doctor looked up absentmindedly, barely registering much else of what had just been said as he corrected her – a troubled look now shrouding his already closed features.

"Well whatever you are Doctor, you're way out of your depth." Jackie pointed accusingly in his direction before suddenly she was cut short by the Doctor's frustrated response.

"Don't you women ever give it a rest?" He turned on her as he began to make his way back towards the door, still looking troubled and vaguely disturbed. "Rose and Jack should have caught up by now." He muttered, more to himself than Jackie as he gazed out at the smog enshrouded streets before him.

Jackie immediately froze, eyes wide with fear as she made her way over to the Doctor's side, forcing her way in front of him in an instant as she continued to speak.

"What?" She exclaimed, confusion and horror immediately creeping into her voice as though the impact of the Doctor's words hadn't quite sunk in. "I thought Rose was with you." She cried.

"Does she look as though she's with me?" The Doctor asked in sarcastic response before turning away to continue to gaze desperately outside, as though glancing beyond a picture frame to a scene so distant from the safe confines of the TARDIS walls that even to the Doctor it appeared almost worlds away.

"But she can't be far." Jackie indicated desperately. "You're supposed to be looking after her Doctor! You're supposed to be taking care of her!"

"I was trying to save your life!" He explained. "You would probably still be wandering around aimlessly out there if I hadn't made the decision to do what I did… it wasn't an easy decision to let them lag behind."

"Do you really think that my life means more to me than my own daughter's?" She suddenly snapped in his direction. "You should have stayed with her Doctor, she's all I have!"

"I know." The Doctor replied solemnly, and in that instant there was something conveyed within his voice which made Jackie stop short in mid-flow, a pain which said more than words could convey… he loved Rose to, and in that moment was more convinced than ever that she would somehow come through this alright. He could only hope that Jack had strength enough left to hold on just a little while longer as well.

He immediately began calling to them both, craning his neck slightly as Jackie joined him in anticipation of seeing their shadowy, silhouetted forms appear from out of the descending darkness as evening gradually faded into night. "Rose… Jack… ROSE! JACK!" But after a few moments of eerie silence he was all but ready to abandon the safety of the TARDIS in search of them when suddenly a sound met with their ears. A response so distant that it barely reached them, but appeared to grow closer with each passing moment… it was Jack.

"Doctor? Where are you?" He called.

His voice sounded so weak that the Doctor was immediately struck with an instant dread. "You're not far off now." He encouraged. "You're nearly at the TARDIS."

"I can't see you." Jack revealed desperately. The air outside was beginning to thicken now, so much so that the Doctor grew concerned that it may soon start to restrict his two companions capacity to breath. He had to make a hasty decision, and in that moment he realized that he was going to have to leave Jackie alone inside the TARDIS whilst he went off in search of them if there was to be any chance of the two humans making it out of this alive.

"Jack I'm coming to find you." He informed the young man at last. "Just keep going in the mean time, you mustn't stop." Before turning to Jackie. "Stay here." He instructed her. "Keep shouting for them. I'll be back as soon as I can." And with that he was gone.

True as her word had been, in the moments that followed the Doctor could still hear Jackie's persistent calls growing gradually distant as he found himself edging further away from the TARDIS in his search for Jack and Rose. He suddenly found himself dwelling on the inevitable truth. He hadn't wanted to admit it to himself but the Doctor was used to a life spent alone. He had visited hostile planets, unheard of galaxies and defeated some of the most vile species ever to curse existence with their presence, but Rose was different, even Jack couldn't escape his immortality, and in the isolating darkness of this new and fundamentally foreign environment it only took the Doctor an instant to realize that things may not be as easy to fix as he had at first thought.

"Jack!" He called, after a while's searching still turned up no visible evidence to point him in the direction of his friend. He hoped that Jack may have already found his way back to the safety of the TARDIS or at least be making some headway in that general direction, but as he continued to look wearily about him the figure of a man, barely able to walk, suddenly appeared from out of the darkness making his way steadily towards the Doctor.

"Doctor." Jack spoke weakly as he approached. The Doctor recognized his companions attempt at welcome immediately, a forceful yet distinctly pained smile etched into his features. But it wasn't that which made him suddenly freeze with dread. As he drew closer the Doctor noticed that despite the smile, Jack's eyes were fixed with the intense pain of loss and regret making it obvious that he was currently going through some kind of emotional turmoil as well as the developing physical complications which now afflicted him. The reason for his sudden weakness immediately became apparent however as his lips were tinged with grey and his skin had taken on a distinct pale blue colour… Jack's body was being starved of oxygen and with the additional concern of the tainted anaesthetic still coursing through his system which he had received earlier that day it was only a matter of time before it threatened to overwhelm him entirely, but this appeared to be the last thing on Jack's mind. "Doctor, it's Rose." He explained despondently after a moment, completely ignoring the Doctor's obvious concern for his own condition. "We were separated, the smog was just to thick. I was supposed to be taking care of her! I failed you both Doctor, I'm sorry."

"You mustn't concern yourself with that now." The Doctor struggled to reassure his companion with forced tenderness whilst trying to conceal his own emptiness and desperation at the thought of the missing Rose in the presence of Jack – he wasn't used to having to adopt a bedside manner, and even to his own ears his technique left a lot to be desired, sounding more abrupt than affectionate. "I'll find Rose, but we need to get you back to the TARDIS first."

"No." Jack immediately protested. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me Doctor, I've made it this far. Just make sure that you find Rose, get to her before it's too late, get her back to the TARDIS. You need to do what I could not, I couldn't help her, but you still can… she needs you."

"But Jack you're dying out here!" The Doctor exclaimed, shocked by the young Captain's refusal to accept any assistance as he struggled to highlight the gravity of the situation now facing them all.

"It'll take more than a few microbes to stop me Doctor." Jack smiled reassuringly with forced cheer in his voice before his gaze met with the Doctor's more severe expression for a moment as he continued in a tone shrouded with seriousness, his eyes and the Doctor's locked in mutual agreement and understanding for a split instant. "Rose must always come first." He explained before his expression became somewhat more despondent. "If this really is the end though Doctor," he added more solemnly, "I just want you to know that it's been great… this life…you and Rose, you've both been great!"

The Doctor looked as though he may have been about to elaborate on something for a moment, but Jack simply fixed him with a knowing glare, conveying his unspoken 'goodbye' as the Doctor looked away unresponsive, he knew that this was the only way… both realizing that if Jack had to die tonight then it was so that Rose was going to survive.

"Keep going straight." The Doctor instructed Jack finally, resigning himself to the only logical solution to the situation. "The TARDIS isn't much further from here. Jackie should be waiting inside."

"Just make sure you bring her back safe." Jack added, before patting the Doctor characteristically on the back. "Well see you in hell Doctor." He smiled, the Doctor offering him a regretful response in return before running on a little further, resuming his search for Rose… when he turned back Jack had gone.

A little while later the Doctor could only hope that Jack had strength enough left to make it. So far his search for Rose had turned up very little and a genuine fear, the like of which he had not felt in centuries, struck him to the very core. He had done the lonely time travel business before, although there had always been someone, somebody all too willing to give up the general day to day sequence of their own lives for a slice of the Doctor's own unpredictable existence, but none of them had ever come close to equaling the unrivaled zest for adventure, courage and companionship of Rose and Jack.

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye a dark figure caught his attention, stopping him abruptly in his tracks. He turned and began to run in the direction of the distinctly human form, although through the thickness of the smog it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female, or, even more worrying, if they were in fact alive or dead.

As he approached however a distinct streak of long blond hair cloaking a slender body identified the figure as female… delicate features resembling those of Rose leading the Doctor to suspect that somehow his search for his young female companion had finally come to and end.

"Rose." He called to her from out of the darkness, both his hearts skipping a beat simultaneously as he received no response… and as he drew closer, to his horror he realized why. Rose, his Rose, the Rose he had sworn to protect and secretly the Rose whom he also loved, was lying on the ground… motionless.


	21. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

**Well here it is. I've so nearly finnished this story now, only two chapters left to go! Oh my God I can't believe that I've been working on this for close to a year! I hope you enjoy what you read in this chapter, as always. I've been rather good recently and managed t produce this update before schedule so make the most of it as, as you should all know by now, my busy life does make me rather unpredictable when it comes to updating. Oh and I know I say this every time but please please PLEASE don't forget to REVIEW!**

The Doctor sprinted towards Rose's lifeless form, stooping down affectionately beside her as he approached and cupping her tender cheeks in his hands. In that moment he was relieved to see that she was still breathing… although only just, her breath coming in short ragged gasps, as her pale face clearly highlighted the beads of sweat now prickling her forehead. Despite her obvious panic however the Doctor smiled down to see the familiar glint of life within her eyes, and for a fleeting instant he thought he saw the beginnings of a smile decorate her young features in return before it suddenly faded to be replaced by a look of intense fear, and a glazed expression clouded her features, turning the soft green of her iris's a milky white as he embraced her.

"Hey." He spoke with forced cheer after a moment. "I was wondering where you got to." It nearly broke his heart as Rose's delicate and beautiful body began to shiver violently in his arms.

"Doctor what's happening to me?" She asked through chattering teeth. "What's going on?" A deep throbbing pain was pounding away in the back of her head and making her feel dizzy as she spoke.

The Doctor sighed with relief at the fact that she could still recognise him. At least that meant that the microbes now taking a hold o her system hadn't cause any permanent brain damage… not for the moment anyway.

"Doctor I can't breathe." Rose suddenly choked. Fear now overriding her usual sense of reason and composure as she felt death approaching her on all sides.

"Rose you need to remain calm." The Doctor explained. "The microbes are trying to absorb the residual oxygen in your system. Try and control your breathing, they're feeding off your fear."

"Am I going to die?" She asked at last.

"Of course not." The Doctor faltered. "It's just the air that's all. If we can get you back to the TARDIS things will feel a lot easier. Can you walk?" He asked.

"I don't know." Rose shrugged. "I'll try, but my whole body feels as though it belongs to somebody else at the moment."

"I'll help you." The Doctor offered as he wrapped her arm tenderly around his broad shoulder and hoisted her up into a standing position, supporting her flailing weight against his lanky frame until he was confident that they were both relatively comfortable in their current positions.

"Doctor what about Jack?" Rose suddenly asked, catching him off guard as he searched around for something to say, purposefully avoiding the reality of the situation.

"He's fine…" He replied at last, although not very convincingly. "Jack's fine." But no mater how much Rose wanted to believe him she knew that it wasn't the truth. She had bore full witness to Jack's deteriorating physical state over the past 24 hours and realised that he was likely to now be in a worse physical condition than she was… though she went along with the Doctor's story anyway, convincing herself that whatever was really up with Jack, whatever the Doctor was currently keeping from her, could be overcome as the world became an ever distant reality to her with each assign minute.

"I don't think I can make it Doctor." She revealed at last. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not giving up on you Rose. I know you can do this." The Doctor encouraged. "You've come through worst before, just keep going."

They had only made a few steps headway however when she finally collapsed, unable to go any further. The Doctor having no other option left open to him but to stand by and watch as her breathing became even more laboured before she eventually slipped into unconsciousness, the gentle rhythmic rise and fall of her rib-cage slowly dissipating until finally it ceased completely.

"Rose!" The Doctor called desperately to her, "Rose!"… but it was already too late. Her pale skin was still warm and slightly clammy, but with no evidence of any vital signs she was dead.

He stood over her in silence for a while, eyes welling up with an uncharacteristic outpour of emotion. 'Not like this.' He thought to himself. Not now… I was meant to be taking care of you, you and Jack both.' He recalled how helpless Jack had appeared during the last conversation they had shared, how he had blamed himself so dearly for losing sight of Rose, and the overwhelming sense of guilt he had displayed at the thought that he had failed her.

"But you didn't fail her Jack." The Doctor suddenly whispered out loud to himself from the depths of his sorrow. "I should have never left you both behind. When a somewhat unexpected and long forgotten thought immediately occurred to him, instilling new hope into his heart as, without hesitation, he knelt down tenderly beside Rose' motionless form.

He sat looking at her for a moment, taking in every fine detail of her young and intelligent face before drawing her closer their lips locking in an instant in a long and passionate kiss. A gentle peck should have served his purpose quite adequately but the Doctor could not hide the genuine emotion behind the action, and after a number of seconds passed he finally brought himself to pull away as he felt the distinctive upheaval of her diaphragm from where he had his hand placed affectionately near her abdomen.

Rose opened her eyes, her breathing strong now as she looked about her before her gaze finally came to settle upon the Doctor, who was smiling manically down at her.

"What happened?" She asked, a bemused frown highlighting the question in her eyes.

"I kissed you." He laughed.

Rose continued to look up at him questioningly as the Doctor elaborated.

"My alien DNA, transferred to your body during that kiss, combined with yours." He explained. "Neutralising the toxins in the air directly around us and those still flowing throughout your bloodstream, therefore reviving you."

"Like an invisible seal of genes?" Rose asked as she tried to get her head around what had just happened.

"Exactly like that!" The Doctor grinned.

"That's disgusting." She commented, although failed to disguise the smile now spreading over her face as she screwed her nose up in mock revulsion.

"Saved your life though." The Doctor laughed before he and Rose embraced. "Wed better get going." He advised at last. "The effects aren't permanent and we've probably only got minutes before it begins to wear off."

Rose nodded, taking his hand as he offered it to her and suddenly feeling as though her legs were being wrenched out of her sockets as he took off at a run back to the TARDS. It took a few moments for her to compose herself to the point where she felt sufficiently ale to keep up with the Doctor's pace without the concern that she may soon find herself coming face first with the hard ground as he pulled her over. However this provided little salvation as with the renewed clarity of mind that she was now experiencing came the dawning realisation that she could barely see anything within a few feet of her, and as she was suddenly gripped by a slight tightness to her chest she began to doubt that she would ever see the TARDIS again. As her breathlessness began to increase however, her own ribs now working to squeeze the air from out of her swollen lungs, she was relieved to see a distinct streak of blue light breaking through the milky mist before her, and with on lasting effort on the Doctor's part to steer them both in the correct direction she suddenly found herself standing inside the familiar and welcoming glow of the control room a the Doctor slammed the doors closed behind them.

The atmosphere now radiating throughout the extensive and rather unusual time machine however was anything but celebratory and as Rose took more observant notice of her surroundings she was shocked to see the lifeless form of Jack slumped on the ground mere feet away, Jackie leaning gently over him. As she turned she saw that tears stained her eyes and cheeks and, looking beyond where her mother now currently sat, the full horror of the situation suddenly hit her like a tone of space debris.

Jack's face was blue, his lips grey, he remained unmoving even as Rose whispered his name, and as she approached it became clear to her that he was dead.

The Doctor hadn't had to take heed of Jack's empty expression twice to confirm that his worst fears had been realised… the TARDIS had already communicated to him all that he needed to know, and it tore a gaping wound in his heart.

"I'm sorry sweetheart." Jackie sobbed. "He just collapsed as he came in. I didn't know what to do,"

"No!" Rose suddenly exclaimed as she ran over and threw herself down beside him, Jackie desperately trying to console her grieving daughter as Rose continued to scream, tears quickly soaking her cheeks as she vigorously shook Jack's limp frame. "Wake up!" She cried. "Please God… Damn you, just wake up!"

Even the Doctor allowed the ears to flow – although they were few and far between the sentiment was the same – as he stood, watching his small close-knit team, now laid bare and broken before him.

"It's what he wanted." He revealed almost to himself at last. "I could have saved him, but he died so that I could carry on and protect you."

This seemed to do little to console the despairing Rose however as she suddenly turned on him, unable to contain her grief.

"Can't you give him that kiss of life thing or something?" She demanded, hardly seeming to register the fact that the Doctor had just spoken, let alone the impact of what he had just said.

"I can't… he's too far gone." The Doctor replied solemnly. A single tear marking it's path down his dark cheek s he spoke. "When I kissed you it was mere seconds from when you passed. I last spoke to Jack nearly an hour ago, the chain of events that lead to his death could have happened anytime since then."

"But you have a time machine! You must be able to do something?" She snapped. "Otherwise what the bloody hell us are you?"

Suddenly the Doctor was alerted to the slightest nervous twitch passing through one of Jack's finger joints – largely undetectable to the naked human eye but all the more obvious to his somewhat more superior senses – and, by now oblivious to everything else that Rose had to say, made his ay over to check Jack's pulse. His whole body burning with apprehension as he positioned two fingers to the side of Jack's windpipe, surprised to feel the faint murmurings of an irregular heartbeat in response.

"He's still alive." He muttered, revealing his obvious relief to them all with a slight smile.

"What?" Rose gasped disbelievingly, taking immediate notice now as he Doctor took ff down the winding corridor adjoining the control room. He was only gone a moment however when he returned brandishing a hypodermic full of a luminous green liquid which he kept firmly clasped within his hand. "Rose his sleeve up!" He instructed Rose immediately, pointing to Jack.

"Doctor what is that stuff?" She asked as she carried out the job without hesitation, flinching slightly as the Doctor plunged the needle into the first available vein he could find before emptying it of its contents.

"He still has a very weak pulse" The Doctor explained after a distracted pause as he continued to keep a close check on Jack's vital signs. "Admittedly he's still in a very serious condition but this will shut Jack's mind down until the microbes currently in his system have nothing left to feed off and eventually die… which should give him a chance."

"But do you think it'll work?" Rose asked hopefully.

"It's a long shot." The Doctor admitted with a heavy sigh. "But there still may be some hope."

…and that's all they had to go on at the moment he thought privately to himself a short while later while Rose and Jackie set about making Jack a little more comfortable. With he odds so heavily stacked against him it was going to take a miracle, and the biggest fight of Jack's life, if he was going to come through this with his life, and be expected to make a 100 percent recovery in the process.


	22. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 21**

**Well as you can see I finally got around to updating this. I appologise for it being so late!!!! Although you may be pleased to hear that this was actually an unplanned chapter and so i still have another two to write instead of my planned one! This did however mean that I was writing this blind, without my plan, and so this is part of the reason why it is so late, as well as the fact that I miss judged when I last updated this and so thought I had more time to work on it than I actually did. Anyway, as usual I hope that you enjoy what you read, and please please please don't forget to REVIEW. Thank you for all your support and patience with me so far :D **

When Jack finally awoke from his drug induced coma a few days later all he could feel was an intense explosion of pain. As his conscious mind gradually began to flow back to him in an ear-splitting cacophony of noise and calculated movement he opened his eyes slowly to try and get the bearing of his surroundings, recoiling immediately at the sharp glare of light. He realised that he must be back inside the TARDIS, his mind feeling so incredibly scrambled however that that was about as far as his special awareness would stretch at this point in time and he spent a few moments struggling to recall if he had had a run in with any rogue tractor beams lately.

"He's waking up. Fetch the Doctor." Suddenly the sound of a familiar voice sparked him back to reality and he smiled vaguely with relief… Rose. He couldn't quite remember why it was so important to him that he should be hearing her voice now, but he figured that everything would come back to him in time.

It seemed like forever before the door was finally thrown open and an unusually heavy tread, signalling the appearance of the Doctor, could be heard crossing hastily across the carpeted floor. He said something inaudible to Jack's shattered hearing before the room suddenly went unnervingly silent.

Jack felt tender hands against his skin as somebody gently began to undo the top number of buttons on his nightshirt before a plate if cold, hard metal was placed heavily against his chest, sending him into a state of panic.

He tried desperately to fight these people away from him, doing everything he could think of in his semi-conscious state to block the unidentifiable object from making contact with his body as it moved around his chest in intervals.

Finally his fist made contact with somebody's jaw and he took it to be the Doctor's. Some deep seated instinct seeming to convey to him that he was only amongst friends here – wherever here was – people who he knew and trusted, yet not kicking in with enough incentive for him to stop fighting. He recoiled immediately as his left hand suddenly erupted in a torrent of burning pain and he let out an involuntary whimper of distress, after which any further attempt to restrain him by his companion's appeared to cease.

Suddenly an overwhelming sense of nausea struck him with a heavy blow to his digestive system and he instinctively threw himself onto his side, feeling hot bile rising in his throat as he immediately vomited violently over the edge of the bed.

"What's happening?" He heard Rose's anxious voice suddenly enquire of the Doctor as he fought to catch his breath, the room yet again becoming a frantic flurry of unseen activity.

"He's woken up too soon." He heard the Doctor's grave response, proceeded by a strange and yet not entirely unfamiliar buzzing sound, the sound of the Doctor's voice suddenly distorting as his speech became broken like an un-tuned radio signal.

"There's still oo any toxins n s blood. The microbes aren't dead yet, they're ust lying dormant n is brain. His body can't cope with the essure." Although anything else was immediately drowned out as a further bout of searing pain struck his throbbing head before he suddenly felt a sharp prick to his arm and finally everything yet again went black.

…

Jack's condition had proven to be a grave cause for concern for them all over the past few days. The Doctor's mood swings had become increasingly unbearable for Jackie who couldn't help but feel as though she was trapped at an uncomfortable halfway point, with Rose, who was well used to them by now, hardly leaving Jack's side until the Doctor offered to take over vidual in the evening. She didn't know why she spent all the hours of her day sitting with him, talking to him, even sometimes singing to him as though he knew that she was there beside him, waiting for him to wake up, but there was still a very high chance that they could lose him and she had decided that if Jack was going to die she wasn't going to let him die alone. However, seeing him stuck in a hopeless limbo between life and death, she couldn't help but dwell upon the future and the chain of events which had led them to this impossible scenario. She hoped for Jack's sake that if the time came she would be able to let go, say goodbye and let her hope give way to grief. She had already lost him once… before the Doctor had intervened in a desperate attempt to save his life, and for the moment he still remained barely clinging to life, but she didn't think that she could go through that pain again and lay awake most evenings praying to God that the next day would be the day that Jack woke up.

The Doctor still made sure that Jack had fresh bandages applied to his raw and injured left hand, which had so far been mercifully spared of infection. She had observed him changing the dressings on a number of occasions, always with the same tenderness, when she had wandered down to his bedroom in the middle of the night – unable to sleep herself – supporting Jack's limp wrist as he cleansed and bathed the angry wound in antiseptic and salt water. She made no secret of her being there and Rose realised that the Doctor must know of her nightly routine by now but he never pressed her. She had noted on a number of occasions that there was no evidence of new flesh beginning to form over Jack's open wounds and the Doctor had explained that, with him being so close to death, there was not enough significant brain activity to generate new skin growth. Whilst he was in this state he was like a new born baby, completely reliant upon others to care for him.

Then on the third day Rose sat in silence with Jack's cold and pale hand clasped gently within her own warm palm, his fingers unconsciously locked with hers as they rested against her cheek.

"Stay with us Jack." She whispered almost pleadingly as she planted her moist lips against his clammy forehead. "We'll get you through this. We won't let you down again."

When suddenly Jack stirred so silently that at first she failed to notice, before he gave out a long suppressed cry of what Rose could only imagine was pain.

"He's waking up." She immediately turned to Jackie who had been sitting with her back to the far wall of the bedroom. "Fetch the Doctor." Before she turned her attentions back to Jack, caressing his damp hair, limp with sweat. His skin was hot to her touch with fever, but even so she failed to suppress the hopeful smile which now escaped her.

Suddenly the door to the bedroom was abruptly thrown open, and the Doctor entered. He had a surprisingly modern looking stethoscope hanging from the pocket of his leather jacket and looked somewhat more like the conventional image of a doctor that Rose was used to, if not still managing to retain much of his usual eccentricity.

As he approached she immediately made room for him beside her on the bed, adjusting her position slightly so that they were both granted a clear view of Jack. They sat in silence for a while, the Doctor taking in his male companion's somewhat subdued form with the same intensity as though he was soaking up water from a sponge. Rose watched him with interest for a moment, before glancing around – suddenly anything and everything providing a welcome distraction from the subject in hand. Noticing that Jackie had failed to return however she turned her attentions back to the Doctor.

"Where did my mum go?" She asked him questioningly, an element of concerned curiosity in her voice.

"I think she said something about going to the kitchen to make tea." The Doctor responded matter of factley after a slight delay, his tone distracted as continued to observe Jack's semi-conscious form. "Would you unbutton his shirt for me please?" He continued, indicating the young American before him.

Jack flinched slightly as Rose's soft hands made contact with his bare flesh, letting out an involuntary hiss of discomfort as she began to do as the Doctor had instructed. She watched as the attentive Time Lord carefully removed the stethoscope from his pocket, raising it to his ears and placing it gently to Jack's chest, before backing away immediately at their young companion's sudden and unexpected reaction.

Jack immediately kicked out, fighting with the Doctor in an attempt to wrestle the diaphragm of the stethoscope away from him. The Doctor persisted, un-phased if not appearing a little frustrated by Jack's persistent lack of cooperation. Until, finally, the young man's fist came into abrupt contact with his jaw and Jack recoiled instantly with a discouraged cry of pain – his wounded hand, once forgotten in the adrenaline rush of a few days previous was now obviously making itself known with a vengeance and the Doctor eased off him slightly in an attempt to allow their young companion a few moments to recover.

Then, without warning, Jack's face became deathly pale and he instinctively threw himself over the edge of the bed just as his ribs heaved and convulsed and he vomited violently onto the floor.

"Shhh" Rose coaxed reassuringly as she began to rub his back soothingly in a repetitive circular motion before turning to the Doctor, fear in her eyes. "What's happening?" She asked him anxiously.

"He's woken up too soon." The Doctor explained severely, passing in front of her as he began to run the sonic screwdriver over the length of Jack's body once he finally appeared to recover somewhat, if not still seeming slightly short of breath. He sighed heavily at the readings it produced. "There's still too many toxins in his blood. The microbes aren't dead yet, they're just lying dormant in his brain. His body can't cope with the pressure."

Suddenly however Jack's face contorted in an expression of searing pain and the forced calm which had eventually elapsed between the three of them was abruptly shattered as the Doctor immediately sprung into action, removing a vile and a caped syringe from deep within the pocket which only moments before had also contained the now disregarded stethoscope.

Rolling up Jack's shirt sleeve he instantly filled the hypodermic with the luminous green contents of the vile before sinking the needle deep into Jack's arm for the second time in days.

Their young companion flinched, ceasing to struggle as unconsciousness began to overtake him, the potent contents of the syringe taking effect within moments of being administered. Before long he was sleeping soundly again.

Finally, after the agonising silence which ensued Rose turned despairingly in the direction of the Doctor.

"What are Jack's chances?" she asked him despondently after searching around fruitlessly for some welcome source of false hope, before finally finding no other way around the issue but to confront the cold, hard reality.

"Well…" The Doctor faltered in vague response as his forehead creased thoughtfully for a moment. "He's regained consciousness once so all we can do is hope that he does again, and if so a more long term recovery should come in time. However, his heart especially has been put under a considerable amount of strain and there's some significant areas of inflammation around most of his internal organs where the microbes have already started attacking his body and damaging vital tissues. I guess nothing can really be guaranteed at this point in time."

But as the Doctor finally got up to leave Rose had faith that, despite what the Doctor had just said, things had just got a whole lot worse for Jack in the prelude to them getting better, and she was going to be there for him through what she suspected could be a long and painful recovery… all he had to do was wake up again first.


	23. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER 22**

**Hey all, well here it is Chapter 22! I'm so sorry that I've been so long in updating! I have been incredibly busy over the past month and so have been trying to fit my writing in alongside everything else, which hasn't been easy! I hope you like what you read (as uaual) non the less and please please please don't forget to REVIEW! Remember there's only once chapter left now before this story is complete and it's been over a year since I started it now which is going to be so strange! Anyway thank you all for being so patient with me, and I hope that my next chapter won't be as long in the making as this one!**

**Thank You!**

It was to be another few days before Jack finally awoke again. During which time his recovery was to be marked by the steady improvement of some of the more disturbing of the symptoms that he had presented over the past few days. Starting with the drop in his fever, which was subsequently followed by a decrease in the levels of inflammation around most of his internal organs, signifying the long overdue turning point that they had all been hoping for. Yet still the Doctor remained relatively unmoved by Jack's apparently swift progress, still concerned by his apparent unwillingness to wake up and the unthinkable potential for brain damage or more long-term internal complications in light of the events clouding his initial return to consciousness a few days earlier. Rose struggled desperately not to think about this however as she tried to remain positive despite the devastating chain of circumstances which were now slowly unravelling her world from around her. She still lay awake most evenings, in the knowledge that the Doctor had by no means given up his nightly vigil at Jack's bedside. Although as time went on she too began to make herself more known throughout these late and early morning hours, not knowing where to place herself in what was steadily becoming an intolerable limbo between her own body's desire for sleep and anxious consciousness.

It was during these lonely evenings that she began to run through the events of the past few days consecutively in her mind, letting the now all too familiar sequence of circumstances wash over her, in an attempt to extract some vague clarity from amidst the confusion that her broken dreams had so far failed to provide. As time slowly passed them by however, she began to realise that Jack wasn't done fighting yet. He had appeared so lost when they had first crossed paths, what felt like a lifetime and many light-years ago now. A con-man, bearing his pain and bitter emotions so openly against his shoulders that it had made it ultimately impossible to keep up his cleverly thought out charade of oozing confidence and a selfish arrogance in light of someone who really cared… and Rose had cared, since the very first evening they had ever spent together back in 1941. It had taken the Doctor predicatively longer to warm to the idea of having Jack onboard at first, although it hadn't taken him long to come around to the correct way of thinking once the realisation that their new companion was as alone in this universe as he himself was dawned. Rose recognised that now in the tentative way that he cared for his ill and wounded charge.

Jack needed somebody to believe in him, and as it gradually became clear that there was nothing more they could do she began to leave him alone for short periods of time during the day in order to rest and recuperate from the events which had left his body shattered over the past few days. Although there was still no denying the degenerative effect of Arnie's microbes on the human form, alarmingly evident now by the young American's fragile and pale appearance. Finally by the third evening however his temperature had returned to normal, and a final once over with the sonic screwdriver by the Doctor confirmed that Jack's brain activity was gradually increasing at a more stable rate, meaning that it was now only a matter of time before he regained consciousness.

Rose sat up with him hopefully all night, fighting off the ever present urge to give into encroaching sleep as she kept a vigilant watch over Jack's bedside until late into the early hours of the morning. The Doctor made his presence known on a number of occasions throughout the duration of the long evening, but he never stayed long. Until, that is, early the next day when he finally took up a more permanent position at his young companion's bedside.

With Jackie's constant insistence that her daughter was in need of a long overdue break Rose had reluctantly had to admit defeat, although she hoped that her time spent apart from him may give Jack the remainder of the time that his body needed to recover from the microscopic warfare which had ravaged his system over the past few days. She dreamed incessantly of how she had known him and of him waking to become that same person once again; energetic, bold and full of life… he still hadn't lost his roguish charm even in the grip of the illness which had left him so significantly weakened beyond his usual state.

But by the time she returned a few hours later there had still been no change in his condition. A few stifled groans emitted by his unconscious form however let them know that even now he was still fighting for them and she patiently settled herself back down beside him for what she was prepared could be a frustratingly long wait. Things would be good between them again, and Rose was now resilient that she and the Doctor were going to be right there beside him to support him every step of the way.

…

Jack stirred weakly, flinching slightly as he felt the soreness of every stiff muscle in his body. It took him a while to adjust to the transition of being awake, making him wonder just how long he had really been asleep for. With dread it all came flooding back to him in an instant; the past few days, how close he had come to not making it through… even worse, how close Rose had come. His forehead felt cold and wet now, keeping the nagging headache at bay, but he remembered with foreboding that his last return to consciousness had been marked by the worst eruption of pain he had ever known, a bone splitting blow to his skull which he knew had left him dangerously close to death, and which he hoped he never had to go through again. He lay in silence for a while, struggling to get his bearings after the isolating silence of the dreamless state which had occupied him over the past few days. Although with unexpected hesitance he suddenly realised that he wasn't alone, there was somebody else in the room with him and once his strength had initially recovered somewhat he cautiously opened his eyes, watching dizzily as the room slowly swam into view.

The lights were refreshingly dim, significantly easing the sudden flow of pain and nausea which had initially threatened upon first opening his eyes. Although he struggled to see anything of any clarity some two or three metres beyond his immediate line of vision. Even so it didn't take long for him to put a name to the face of the young girl now leaning over him. His recollection of his initial collapse may have been reduced to a hazy memory by the sickness which had consumed him, and his traumatic lapse into unconsciousness over the past few days, but the image of her distinct smile and warm streak of blond hair had never been far from his thoughts. To Jack's surprise however he suddenly realised that she was leaning sideways towards him, her gentle fingers caressing the loose strands of his rich brown hair and stroking his clammy forehead. There was a cold compress resting heavily against the upper most part of his lightly throbbing cranium, which was dripping water to a steady rhythm on both the left and right edges of his pillow at either side of his head, and Jack suddenly began to wonder why he hadn't noticed this before.

He choked out an involuntary exhalation of breath, masquerading itself as a deep groan as he tried to reach out for her immediately adjacent hand, aiming his grasp rather awkwardly however as his palm made misdirected contact with her forearm, alerting his lone companion to the recent change in his condition.

"Jack!" Rose exclaimed, grinning broadly down on him as she suddenly noticed that he was awake, her tired expression giving evidence to her obvious trial over the past few days. She immediately made to envelop him in a tight embrace, although stopped abruptly, apparently thinking twice about this as she turned to kiss him delicately on the forehead instead.

Forgetting about the cold compress cooling the fire of a fever still evident by his acutely flushed cheeks and pasty complexion Jack immediately made to haul himself up against the headrest of the bed, sending his head spinning in the process. Water quickly soaked into the sheets now covering him, dampening the duvet as the sopping rag of material fell heavily to his lap before Rose hastily removed it and he felt her warm hands through the soft fabric of his nightshirt as she took a firm grip of his shoulders and lowered him gently back down to the cushioned mattress below.

"You need to rest." She explained at last, her tone tender as she continued "Your body has been through a massive ordeal, you're not going to get over that overnight." Jack realised that she had tears welling up in her eyes as she said this and reached out a reassuring hand to comfort her.

It took a moment for his floundering tongue and lips to connect with the signal that his brain was struggling to send them however, rendering him, to his concern, periodically speechless. Rose, sensing his anxiety however, subtly continued, giving the rest of Jack's body the chance it needed to readjust to its full state of consciousness once again after so many days of incapacitation.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him.

"As though I've woken up with the worst hangover of my life." He finally managed in weak response. "I must admit I've had better days. What happened?"

"You mean you don't remember?" She frowned, failing to conceal her concern as she fixed him with an enquiring gaze.

"Only in part." Jack explained. "We were running, the Doctor and Jackie, me and you. I couldn't keep up so you stayed with me, you refused to leave me behind." His expression suddenly contorted in an uneasy grimace as he struggled to remember the events of a few days previous. Events which were now slowly flowing back to him like sand being filtered through a sieve a pinch at a time. "It was dark, the air was thick, making it difficult to breathe. I remember my head was pounding but I could hear your voice in my ear all the time encouraging me to keep on going." He paused. "Then we became separated… that's when the Doctor found me. He wanted to take me back to the TARDIS straight away but I wouldn't let him. He told me the way to go and stayed to carry on looking for you himself… I'm not sure about what happened after that, it all becomes rather hazy. I vaguely recall hearing Jackie's voice as though I was being stirred from a dream, so I followed it and it led me to the TARDIS. But the pain was so unbearable, it felt as though my lungs were about to swell and burst through my chest wall… I couldn't be sure whether I was hallucinating or not… and then… then there's nothing… I… I can't remember…"

"Shhh." Rose placed a reassuring hand on Jack's shoulder. "It'll come to you in time."

"Before that…" Jack suddenly frowned. "The Doctor said something… he said the air was contaminated, but he never told me what he meant by that…"

"The man who you saved us from," Rose sighed at last, unsure as to whether Jack was really ready to hear what she knew of events or not. Noticing he appeared to be growing all the more wearier by the moment, his own recollection having drained much of his already depleted energy levels, she considered waiting for the Doctor to fill him in when he would no doubt pay Jack a visit later that evening. Knowing Jack for who he was however she realised that he wasn't going to be able to totally rest until he had at least a partial understanding of all that had occurred, and finally she relented, telling him everything that she thought he was likely to want to know."

"He was a scientist's assistant." She continued. "Arnie he said his name was… although we never did find out if that was his real name in the end or not. Anyway, he was experimenting with brain degenerative microbes, passing himself off as a whole variety of official personal throughout time in order to observe their effects on the local community. It was him who interrupted us back at the flat when we first went there looking for my mum… and him who was behind the virus scare. You received a dose of these microbes in the form of a cerium which Arnie was passing off as local anaesthetic to some of the London hospitals, but the rest he released into the atmosphere, contaminating the air. The Doctor believes that they worked by intercepting vital signals from the brain, before attacking various tissues and organs, which is probably why you became so ill so quickly… there was a lot of inflammation around most of your internal organs which nobody had noticed when you first began feeling unwell and would seem to support this. The additional microbes that you breathed in during our escape however were what finally overwhelmed you… you see the Doctor believes that they were not made of natural substances but rather a blend of mutated compounds, feeding primarily off the activity generated by the brain and slowly secreting a flesh corrosive chemical as waste, which would also explain why the brains of many of Arnie's victims were so badly decomposed when it came to autopsy. Apparently if what the Doctor says is true, and it seems to be the most likely scenario so far, those once infected never stood a chance… there is no cure. The microbes just stay inside the body, sometimes multiplying, sometimes just existing, sucking the body dry from the inside until eventually there's not enough left to keep their host alive. It's painful as you yourself found out, but it's only likely to last a matter of days…"

Jack sat for a moment in silence, struggling to take all that Rose was saying in as he felt the new information now being relayed to him being processed unusually slowly. Finally however he cut in with the question which had been preying on his mind since at least the latter part of her explanation. "So what about me?" He asked. "If you said there was no cure?"

"I suppose you were lucky to a degree." Rose explained, a genuine if somewhat regretful smile lighting up her bright young features as she continued. "The Doctor must have known that in all likelihood death itself would bring about the only cure. With nothing left to feed off and no way of escaping their dead host the microbes would simply die… so he injected you with a chemical, shutting your brain down to a basically none existent level of activity, leaving you so close to death that your body could no longer supply them with what they needed… although we weren't even sure you strong enough to make it at the time."

"How long have I been out?" Jack asked disbelievingly, almost too casual in his response, as if this bizarre retelling of events had somehow now become the most natural thing in the world.

"Close to a week." Rose explained.

At this point however Jackie entered cutting their conversation short as she stopped abruptly in the doorway, taking the scene in before her. Her cheeks bore the tell tale flush of blusher and Rose now realised that her hair had been pulled tightly back in its usual high knot. With all that had transpired over the past few days Rose had barely taken a moment to take note of her mother's appearance, and it was only now that she could finally relax that she noticed the powdery layer of bold and brightly coloured make up, making Rose wonder just where Jackie had managed to obtain her apparently inexhaustible supply from when they had left for the TARDIS in such haste a few days previous.

"Jack!" Jackie exclaimed, not too much unlike Rose herself had done as an expression of relief immediately passed over her. "You're awake!"

"Certainly looks that way." Jack winked as playfully as he could manage in response, offering up a broad if somewhat weary smile.

"It's such a relief to see you." She continued as she made her way over to the bed, bending down in an unusually maternal manner to kiss him gently on the forehead. "And looking so much better!"

She perched herself on the farthest corner of the bed, rubbing the sheet in the space above Jack's ankle affectionately as all three of them sat and talked for a while, revelling in the knowledge that they now had Jack back, conscious and fully returned to them after so many days of worry. After a while however Rose noticed that Jack began to drift, his eyelids becoming heavy as sleep threatened to overwhelm his exhausted body, and she decided that the time had finally come to bring their conversation to a close.

"Mum," She interrupted, flaunting a contented smile as she fixed her mother with an airy glance. "Would you inform the Doctor that Jack is awake for me please. He'll no doubt be along as soon as he can… and… well…. I really don't feel like I can leave Jack on his own at the moment."

"Of course I will sweetheart." Jackie complied. "I had thought that I would come and see how you were doing. After all we couldn't have had you wasting away in here all by yourself forever could we? But this…" She continued joyfully, "…this is really brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! I hope you're feeling better soon Jack." She added in a final gesture, still smiling as she got up and turned to leave. She never questioned her daughter's motives for cutting their conversation short so abruptly, but Rose realised that she understood.

They could hear her steady succession of footsteps sounding her retreat down the lengthy corridor outside, the echo of her heals against the varnished tilled floor becoming lost within the vast expanse of the hallway, until finally silence ensued once more.

After a moment Rose got up from her position at Jack's bedside and made her way over to the other side of the room. Jack, who since Jackie departure had been resting his head with his eyes closed although not fully falling asleep, suddenly turned to her now straining to see where she had disappeared to in the obscure darkness of the room.

"The Doctor said you would need to drink this." She spoke as she returned a few moments later brandishing a full glass of clear crystal liquid which appeared to be of the same consistency as water. "It's probably best that you take it now in case you fall asleep."

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"I'm not quite sure." Rose explained. "But it'll help to rehydrate you, and flush out any toxins that are still in your body. It's not going to be particularly pleasant tasting though." She warned, "And is likely to make you slightly sick after you drink it, but the Doctor said that it was important."

"Considering how long I was out for," Jack smiled, "you both appear to have prepared for every eventuality."

"You've been coming round for a few days now." Rose grinned as she handed him the glass, "I guess we were both more hopeful than assured of anything after all you had been through though."

Suddenly Jack winced painfully as he accepted the lucid fluid from her, grasping the cup with his injured hand and recoiling immediately to the touch. He looked down to see that although it felt like time had passed tediously slowly since he had received the initial injury his hand was still wrapped in a thick layer of bandages. "I'd forgotten about that." He muttered as he took his first few sips from the contents of the glass.

"Make sure that you drink it all." Rose advised as Jack's face immediately contorted in an expression of sudden shock and disgust as the unknown liquid assaulted his taste buds. It tasted of a poisonous concoction of chlorine and salt making him wretch on his first swallow, but somehow after he had taken a few moments to recover from its initial effects he managed to drain the glass.

"That's disgusting!" He complained as he handed the beaker back to Rose.

"I know." She sympathised, placing it down on the table next to his bedside as she did so. "But in the long term it'll help… I really thought we'd lost you Jack!" She continued after a moment, to which Jack responded by placing a consoling hand on her elbow.

"Don't be silly." He grinned in reassuringly in response, squeezing the fingers of her hand gently together as he did so. "I'm afraid you don't get rid of me that easily."


	24. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER 23**

**Hey to all my lovely loyal readers! Well here it is! The final chapter! Its been a whole year and three months but I finally completed this story and God how I have enjoyed writing it! You've all been brilliant and I would like to thank you all for your patience with me over the past year! I know that I haven't always been the most regular updater and throughout the writing of this story I have been through many stages in my life including taking my final exams, graduating college and moving onto work and then having to reheares for auditions for my degree next year but I promised when I started writing this that I would not leave this story unfinnished and here id your reward! I for one hate an incomplete story and I am so grateful to those of you who have stuck with me since the beginning! I guess it's going to feel kind of strange now not having this to write...**

**...but there is one more thing that you can still do for me if you would, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW MY FINAL CHAPTER! PLEASE!**

**Love you all:D**

A couple of days later the Doctor, Rose and Jackie were back standing outside the industrial style block of West London flats, which had been the scene of so much disarray and devastation upon their initial arrival more than a week ago now. Although the following few days had proven nothing short of an ordeal for them all, especially the Doctor and Rose being the closest to Jack and therefore the most effected by his unforeseen turn for the worse, everything appeared to have returned to normal for the people of London now and Rose realised with a sudden pang of regret that the time would soon come for them to depart once more, although without her mother present this time. She had never before considered the extent to which her rather unorthodox life with the Doctor may effect those she had left behind… until she had almost lost everything which had ever meant anything to her whilst growing up, and she only hoped that Mickey could keep his promise to take care of Jackie for her… although somehow she had no doubt that he would.

He claimed to have heard the TARDIS materialising three streets away. A place where he and Rose had spent the better part of their early relationship eating chips out of greasy paper bags before kissing each other goodbye on the graffiti etched street corner, much to the disdainful looks of many of the elderly residents who had occupied the grubby council flats and nearby streets of run down houses at the time. It had been exciting once to catch the disapproving looks that they attracted as they would smile and wave mockingly in the direction of their nosey observers before parting ways as they headed on their own very separate ways home… and she _had_ been happy with this once… she _had_ been content. But now she realised that it had only been a happiness born out of ignorance. That, like most of her own who lived out their monotonous existence, characterised by routine and the false comfort of familiar things here of Earth, she had simply accepted life for what it was because she had known no different… and no matter how much the circumstances of the previous few days had prompted her to reminisce about her past she had never known true excitement before she met the Doctor, nor had she ever been happier than she was now, in the company of himself and Jack.

Jack meanwhile was still weak, although had made significant progress over the past couple of days. Since regaining consciousness his strength had improved dramatically and he was already up and around, taking his first steps on the road towards a steady recovery. There was however still a long way for him to go before he would be fully recovered, and the Doctor was keeping a close eye on him to be sure that there was no sign of him suffering a relapse, just in case any of Arnie's microbes were still lying dormant in his system.

"You sure you've remembered everything you need?" Rose asked, turning back now to the farewell in hand as she hugged her mother for the innumerable time in the last few minutes.

"I keep telling you sweetheart," Jackie responded as she tightened the embrace between herself and her daughter, "There's nothing for you to worry about. Everything that I need is still right here where I left it."

"I still don't understand how things can suddenly appear so normal though." Rose continued as she looked around in a state of bewildered puzzlement at the familiar scene of unorganised calm all about them. "When we left a week ago this place was a mess… people didn't know what to do with themselves, even where to go they were that scared, and now they're walking around as if nothing happened?"

"That's because technically nothing did. "The Doctor cut in, continuing rapidly in response to the questioning look which he received from Rose. "Time has a wonderful way of healing itself." He elaborated after a moment. "The people here don't remember anything about the past few days because by changing what happened in the past, consequently we also changed the future. As Krewcow and his assistant effectively dies before they were born they never got born at all and so nothing has really changed in the world of 21st Century London. Time is so temperamental, whole events can be erased with the click of a misplaced finger. Even dinosaurs could have evolved the intelligence to use microwaves…" He joked. "Or sharks to have tap danced and lived on the land… but of course we know that that's impossible." He winked. "But we're going to have to keep a very close eye on this planet from now on. Every time history heals itself it weakens the rift in the space time continuum leaving a scar very much like that left by a cut to human flesh. But scars are easily picked, and a sudden split to the rift could prove disastrous, not only to this planet but the entire universe and any other unfortunate dimension which happens to be connected to us via the rift."

"Love the comparison, the space time continuum weighed up against some grossly encrusted flesh wound." Rose responded sarcastically, screwing her face up indignantly with exaggerated disgust as the Doctor smiled charmingly at her. "But what about Jack? Where does that leave him?" She continued more seriously now, her tone heavy as her mind began to wonder back over the events of the past few days and the set of circumstances which had somehow managed to turn her world upside down even more so than it already had been during the previous few months since she had met the Doctor. "If we managed to alter history then why is he still so sick? Surely his condition should have corrected itself by now alongside everybody else's?"

The Doctor shook his head gravely. "We have simply added to the timeline rather than completely altering it." He explained. "Everything that happened to us still really happened, there's no way of escaping that. We have simply covered up one event with another, becoming part of a timeframe that we were never actually meant to be part of. Those people who fell victim to Arnie's experiment may never be quite the same as they once were, and it's going to take Jack a while to get over it himself I'm afraid. Although I'm confident that given rest and time he should be set to make a full recovery eventually."

"I thought it would be something like that." Rose smiled as she nodded her head comprehendingly before rolling her eyes in an exaggerated gesture at the Doctor as she adopted a more sarcastic tone, slapping playfully on the shoulder as she continued. "It usually is."

"Ow." The Doctor complained, rubbing his arm dramatically. "That hurt."

"Excuse me." Mickey suddenly cut in, "But may I ask you something?"

He shuffled uncomfortably as the whole group suddenly turned their attentions to what he had to say, the Doctor looking at him expectantly as he eyed the unsure looking young man before him with an element of superiority and mocking. "Ask away Ricky." The Doctor teased.

"Well," Mickey croaked, his voice beginning to break. "I was just wondering how it is that if everybody else seems to have forgotten everything about the past few days and what happened, how is it that I can still remember?"

"Argh." The Doctor sighed, his face suddenly falling in a gesture which reminded Rose of a man blessed with all the initial pride of a life changing idea only to fall at the final hurdle. "That's where it begins to get complicated I'm afraid." He explained. "You see the TARDIS works on a low frequency psychic wavelength, tapping into the most basic of cognitive functions; to see, to speak, to hear, even to taste and to remember. That's how she is able to interpret alien languages for Rose whenever they are needed, and why it is that you are able to remember everything that has transpired over the past few days even after everybody else has forgotten.

"But I've never even set foot inside the TARDIS before, so how does this apply to me?" Mickey asked.

"Well the influence of a single common denominator must also play its role." The Doctor added, turning to Rose.

"Hey, not so much of the 'common' you!" She responded playfully as she jabbed him hard in the ribs.

The Doctor smiled cheekily at her before continuing. "A small percentage of the connection that Rose shares with the TARDIS is transferred every time she makes contact with somebody new. For most this is insignificant, those who are more sensitive may experience a slight change in mood, body temperature or at worst even develop a sudden sharp headache which lasts only a few minutes and disappears as quickly as it comes as their own body struggles to decipher the new signals which disrupt the ones already being sent out by their own nervous system, but this is rare and most simply remain oblivious to it all. You have a very personal connection to Rose however Mickey, the TARDIS recognises this and grants you certain privileges which she wouldn't normally grant to everybody else, including an extension on the level of psychic energy which she allows you to receive."

"I get it." Rose nodded. "A little bit like a friendly prerogative?"

"I guess you could say that." The Doctor grinned.

"I'm glad somebody understands all of this." Mickey muttered under his breath after a moment. " Because I certainly don't."

Rose smiled, the Doctor's impatient expression conveying that he had already outstayed the time he wished to spend on this lowly little planet and that he was itching now to got back inside the TARDIS and go. Rose took one final look around her at the place she used to call hole before turning back towards her mother for one final goodbye.

"You know I think I'm really going to miss having you around." She explained at last. "It felt kinda strange at first but I guess I kinda grew used to having you around eventually. I guess I may have forgotten how much I used to miss that when I first joined the Doctor."

Jackie smiled. "Your life isn't for me sweetheart." She explained as she embraced her daughter one last time. "Besides, it's like you've always said… time is so fragile. You could be off exploring new worlds and galaxies or whatever else it is that you do with this new life of yours with the Doctor, and by the time you return ten seconds will have passed… just ten seconds."

Rose gave a melancholy smile at her mother's false expression, wondering who it was that she was trying harder to convince, her or herself. "Do you really mean that?" She asked after a moment.

Jackie looked at her thoughtfully as though carefully considering the answer to that question before offering up a response. "If I was to say no." She sighed at last. "If I was to beg you not to go back, tell you how dangerous it was, how much I miss you and worry about you whilst you're gone, just as I have pleaded with you so many times before, would you stay?" She asked.

Rose considered this for a moment, thinking of everything that she had already been through with the Doctor, all the things she had seen, the places he had taken her to and those she was still yet to explore, the difference that they had already made to so many lives and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't." She explained. "I have to go back."

"But why?" Jackie pleaded.

At this Rose glanced back briefly at the Doctor, feeling tears of regret welling up in her burning eyes as she did so. "I'm all he has." She said at last as she planted a final affectionate kiss on her mother's subtly made up cheek.

Jackie sighed heavily. "Rose I won't pretend that I agree with what you do." She spoke bluntly after a while. "Especially now after experiencing the dangers of the life that you lead myself, but I'm always going to be here for you if you need me… both of you," She added, turning to the Doctor, "and Jack… I know now that they both have your best interests at heart."

"Its time to go rose." The Doctor informed her, managing to disguise at least some of the impatience in his voice now as he did so.

Rose nodded.

"Just make sure that you take care of her Doctor." Jackie warned him as she watched them both retreat back inside the TARDIS, wondering when she would next see her daughter again, and hoping that it wouldn't be too long.

"Oh, he will." Rose reassured her, before the door closed behind them and she was gone.

Inside the TARDIS control room Jack was busying himself at the controls. His face pale, his cheeks still flushed with the remains of a slight fever, although significantly stronger than he had been a few days previous as he held his one bad, still bandaged, hand at a comfortable angle to his body. He smiled at them as they entered.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Hey, I thought I was in charge around here." The Doctor looked at him, his eyebrows raised in mock severity, although his facial expression conveying something of a more lighthearted disposition than Rose supposed he had intended.

"Sorry." Jack grinned, and in that moment she noticed the playful glint return to his tired eyes, his voice stronger, his tone rich with the characteristic charm which had had first attracted her to him what felt like a lifetime ago now, and for the first time since the Doctor had first uttered the unthinkable and devastating revelation to her that he thought that Jack was dying she knew that in the long term he would be alright.

Suddenly she realised that the two men were laughing as she focused her attentions back to the present moment couldn't help herself but join in with their lighthearted cheer.

"So where are we going next?" She asked at last, once she had managed to regain much of her composure.

"Wherever the TARDIS decides to take us." The Doctor responded, grinning manically as he dashed over to the controls, fiddling with switches and checking their co-ordinates as he did so. "We've had our little adventure, now it's time for her to have hers."

Rose looked at Jack, still smiling. "And I wouldn't have it any other way!" She laughed.

**_THE END!_**


End file.
